Most people meet Kerala's rivers at the backwaters, far downstream where they've already widened into the slow, palm-lined channels tourists know. A new heritage tour flips that on its head: it starts where the river is still a teenager.
'Uravukal Thedi Yathra' (roughly, a journey in search of sources) is a two-day guided exploration of the headwaters of the Manimala river, running on October 16 and 17. It's organised by Roots & Roads, a heritage travel initiative started by Pallikkonam Rajeev, a local historian who spent 15 years walking, asking and reading his way through Kerala's past after a career at a Malayalam children's magazine. He runs the collective with Zakeer Hussain of Kottayam Nattukoottam and heritage researcher Maneesh Kuzhiveli.
The route follows the Pullakkayar, which Rajeev describes as the river in its pristine, 'childhood' form. Day one sets out from Mundakkayam and threads through Palurkavu, Thekkemala, the hill station hamlet of Panchalimedu, Ammachikottaram, the Peer Mohammad Dargah, the Kuttikanam-Kokkad waterfall, Amruthamedu, Azhutha, Urumbikkara, Madammakulam, Uppukulam and Thangalppara. Day two pushes on to Mithraniketan and Bhoomika in Poonjar, then Valyentha, Elamkad, Yendayar, Koottikkal, and the Pappani, Vembly and Ekayam waterfalls.
The point isn't just ticking off waterfalls. The idea is to watch the river change as it moves through its catchment areas — to see, in one weekend, how a trickle in the high ranges becomes the waterway that feeds towns and paddy fields downstream. Rajeev's argument is that understanding a river opens a window onto the layered histories of the people who live along it, and his past tours have drawn plenty of participants who arrived with no particular interest in history and left actively debating it.
That's the real draw here. Kerala's midland hills — Kuttikanam, Poonjar, the Yendayar forest fringes — are usually passed through on the way to Thekkady or Vagamon, rarely lingered over. A curated route that strings together dargahs, abandoned tanks, waterfalls and old Poonjar-era sites gives you a reason to slow down, with someone who knows the local stories doing the talking. Interested travellers can contact Maneesh Kuzhiveli on 9037470750 for details.
