Backwaters

Kerala was ranked as one of the 50 places of a lifetime by National Geographic Traveller in a specific collectors' issue published just before the turn of the millenary, with houseboat and backwater resort tourism in Alappuzha seen as driving factors. Connected by artificial canals, the backwaters form a reasonable means of transport, and a large local trade is carried on by inland cruising. Fishing, along with fish curing, is a remarkable industry.Kerala backwaters have been used from ancient times by the local people for transportation, angling, and cultivation. The region has supported the efforts of the local people to secure a livelihood. In more recent times, agricultural endeavors have been restored with the restoration of some backwater lands for rice developing particularly in the Kuttanad area. Boat-making has been a conventional occupation, so it has been the coir enterprise.This region is crisscrossed with waterways that run beside large paddy fields, as well as fields of banana, yam, and cassava. The crops are grown on the low land and irrigated with clean water from the canal and waterways connected to the lake. The area is comparable to the dikes of the Netherlands, where land has been recovered from the sea and crops are grown.The uncontrolled increase of motor-driven houseboats in the lakes and backwaters has increased anxieties regarding the unfavorable impression of pollution from diesel fuel and motors on the delicate ecosystem.