Spirit of the South
Evening tea with women of the village committee members
- Special Offer:
Evening tea and snacks with recipes explanations by local women and team members of the village
Who: Village Ways
Women are guiding, sharing traditions with guests, managing plantation, pottery, walks, welcomingThe total committee members are 11 and, out of them, 5 women members are managing everything .
Mothakkara lies at 1,000 m up in the Wayanad Hills of northern Kerala. It is a small village in Mananthavady Taluk of Wayanad District, located 22 km west of Kalpetta, the district head quarters.
It all started with a local NGO willing to help the community to bear the low income of pinapple and fruit sales, and now the Bansura Coyam Sahaya Sangam offers a fabulous list of choices.
The newest tour, inspired by the "Spirit of the South" suggests to relax on the Pavinakurya beaches in the Karnataka coast. The Communities of two fishing villages, amid coconut palms and acacia, just joined Village Ways, and are keen on showing secluded beaches, the Tarabagli estuary, the banana plantation of Mothakkara in the Wayand Hills, the spice gardens of Hulgol,
Here visitors try their hands with the cashew harvest, with ancient culinary and medicinal uses, and traditional craft. Visit the co-operative market colourful scene.. Wander on a bike ride in the forest, and a houseboat sailing along the backwaters, among ducks, buffalos, fishermen in dugout canoes, coir weavers and coconut harvesters. Enjoy walks towards Banasura Mountain and take a day trip to nearby Thrikaipatta.
The most loved is the three night stay onboard the Goodearth houseboat: not a usual cruise, but an experience. You will moore close to three of the five communites; Vayalar, Chenganda, Perumbalam, Chemnagiri and Kodamthuruthu, a long way from the main upstream houseboat operating areas. Your mornings and evenings are spent in the villages, getting to discover the customs and traditions, or exploring deeper into the backwaters in the houseboat's own canoe.
This new project launched by Village Ways is a great example in terms of gender.
Everywhere, women are the protagonists: here busy at the cooperative spice market or teaching ancient culinary and medicinal uses, there fishing mussels, or conducting traditional ceremonies, managing the guest houses, cooking sea food or mildly spiced vegetable dishes, managing cooking and cookery demonstrations.
In the village of Mothakkara, among pepper, coffee, banana plantations and tea gardens, the ladies have also created a vegetable garden. And in the nearby village of Thrikkappatta they have a co-operative of wonderfully skilled bamboo handicrafts and a local music all ladies' drum group.
In the five backwater villages, the major source of local income is coir rope, hand spun from coconut fibres using small electric motors to turn the spinning wheel; this is largely women's work. Some is woven into door mats for finishing outside.
