Alison Stancliffe, Tourism Concern’s founder, describes her Kerala Backwaters experience: My favourite photo, taken recently in the Indian coastal state of Kerala, shows me climbing a coconut tree. I didn’t expect to find myself up a tree, as I’d set ...

We are a group of women living in a southern coastal village of Kerala, South India. Fishing and yarn making from coconut fibre are our main livelihood avenues. After the tsunami of December 2004 the village community initiated the process of reviving their traditional ecological and livelihood systems under a project called Punarjani. We organised ourselves into self-help groups and started several income generating activities. In May 2014, we built a small eco-cottage on the shores of a lake to entertain travelers who are seeking candid experience of our village life.