Kerala part 2

After Kochi/ the backwaters/ Munnar and the tea plantations, we moved back to the coast for the last few days of our trip in Kerala.
On the way from Munnar, we stopped at a bird sanctuary. No birds around as it was the middle of the day, but the hike was quite nice.

We then went to stay in a nice resort on the river Periyar, near to the sea.

There were nice cottages, good food, a peaceful and lovely garden and a mini iguana.

From there, we went and spent some time at Cherai beach. Ruben loved of course the sand, the water, jumping in the waves..
We also did a boat ride from the hotel, on the river and all the way down to the sea. On the way, there was a beautiful landscape of water, coconut trees, chinese fishing nets and colorful fishing boats.

Fishing boats.

And a lovely sunset as we came back.

We also visited also Athirapilly waterfalls, a good 2 hours drive (for 60 km distance, as usual). It was crowded but also very nice! The landscape was beautiful, and we found a quiet secluded spot to take a dip just a bit upstream to the waterfall. 

Ruben enjoying his freshwater dip.

An unidentified mammal was busy eating tree leaves above us..
We would have loved to explore the area further but the rangers asked us not to walk beyond that point as there might be dangerous animals ahead, elephants, snakes?

Back in our hotel, it was coconut harvesting time. Watching the farmer climb up and down the trees is beautiful and mesmerizing.

And, very kindly, he brought down a coconut especially for Ruben.

So for a summary of our stay in Kerala? Beautiful destination, nice food, loved the different landscapes, but we were happy to come back home.. Ruben slept horribly throughout and it was really difficult to manage.

To be fair, I should say that Ruben has been sleeping quite well for the past few months, even giving us some late 9.30 am wake-ups (hurrah), but he does not like so much sleeping when we are traveling unfortunately.