Indhrivanam

As a couple, my husband and I have always been veered towards destinations that involve a large dose of forests, wilderness and nature. While exploring the places to stay in the vicinity of Periyar tiger reserve, we came across this heavenly place, Indhrivanam. Our stay, including our daughter, was of 3 days and 3 nights. About Indhrivanam, I do know that it will feature in my conversations about hospitality and homestays till the end of my very being! Full credit goes to the hosts, Sarah and Morten who have carefully and thoughtfully managed the place. A few highlights that stood out have been…. Foooood: As a family, we unanimously voted that the food was amazing. And what took the cake literally was the vegan vanilla lemon zest birthday cake presented to us at 6.30am!!!! Cutting the birthday cake this early in the morning was a very memorable experience for me not to mention the fact that the cake was finger licking good. Food was a delicious affair all through, Sarah has been so meticulous in the way food was delivered and served to us in huge steel drums hung right outside the guest cottage, that the sight of it’s arrival would make my daughter delightfully scramble to unpack and discover the contents. Being vegetarians, the food perfectly suited our palate :-) Atmosphere: Nestled away from Kumily town, the place offers lush green cover replete with local flowering plants, shrubs and trees. Its a pleasure to sit on the porch, soak in the air and hear the birds. For anyone keen on seeing the surroundings at a closer distance, there was a pair of binoculars thoughtfully kept in the cottage. An added delight was the birthday song sung by my favourite bird the Malabar whistling thrush early morning, ahhh Mother Nature! Cottage: This one is built with stone walls with beautiful doors and collapsible windows made of wood and glass. The temperature in the cottage was always ambient and pleasant. The attached bathroom is environment friendly that has been designed to compost human waste using saw dust. Surprisingly despite the cottage being located in the middle of thick green cover, there were no mosquitoes and creepy crawlies barely made their presence felt. We did notice that our hosts had taken care of ensuring that insects like ants were redirected away from the cottage with some eco friendly solutions. Overall the cottage was very comfortable, neat and cozy in accommodating our family of 3 adults. Hospitality: We had some very interesting conversations with Sarah, Morten, Teddy and Maya. We had plenty to talk about and it felt that we needed a few more visits to talk some more! We received plenty of pointers and information from them on what we could explore in the duration of our stay. We learnt about their incredible experience in India, we marvelled at their gumption and we surely appreciated their kindness. We are back to our regular life and the stressors however all we need to do is just close our eyes and go over our stay at Indhrivanam in our minds eye and that momentarily refreshes us. Thank you so much Sarah and Morten for the incredible experience!