Ola Walsh

Tuk tuks, clouds, monkeys, tea and funky lizards - sky high in Haputale, Sri Lanka 🌿💚

Christmas Safari Crew! 2025 - we miss your adventurous souls ❤️

Alleppey 🌴

From the high hills of the Western Ghats to the lowlands of Kerala's famous backwaters!

Our plan was to reach Munroe Island, a small island community surrounded by natural waterway systems and eight tiny islets, but FOMO led us to Alleppey first.

Further north, it's the more famous of the two backwater communities, known for its houseboats, or floating hotels, but I'll be honest, we felt a little uneasy here, unsure whether we were helping or hindering.

What I suspect was once a thriving ecosystem now feels choked. The backwaters here have been hit hard by a combo of houseboat pollution - diesel, waste, detergents dumped directly into the water, and unchecked tourist infrastructure expanding faster than any regulation could keep up with. 40 years ago there were just a handful of houseboats, now there are over 1,000! 🤯💨

The communities here are caught in a bind - the ecosystem that drew tourists is being degraded by tourism, but so many livelihoods now depend entirely on it.

We stayed at the beach first, which had been taken over by crows (a pretty telling sign of ecosystem stress). Our Airbnb turned out to be so gross 🤮 we just walked the street and knocked on doors until we found a family-run B&B that was clean, comfortable and lovely. We then moved inland, a little closer to the waterways, which although lush and green, were struggling.

So we did what we could to help more than hinder. We skipped the houseboat, ate locally, walked everywhere we could (including a very hot and sweaty 4-hour hike along the beach to Marari), kayaked, stayed in a local homestay, and bought fruit from street vendors along the way. We even sampled the local booze made by fermenting the sap of palm trees (aka TODDY TAPPING!) 🤪🌴🎉🥂

Next stop - Munroe Island. Fewer tourists, cleaner waterways, richer ecosystem, and a little hope that what Alleppey lost can be restored.

Cue one of our most extraordinary stays in India: KODAIKANAL (AKA Princess of the Hills) ✨️

What a change from the north. Desperate to escape traffic, crowds, and constant sensory overload, we made a beeline for the hill stations of Tamil Nadu in the Western Ghats ⛰️🌿

We wasted hours trying to figure out buses into the hills, eventually gave up, and settled for the most accessible option (decision fatigue is REAL!)

A last-minute Airbnb search led us to a remote little cottage, 45 minutes outside Kodai....

And WOW!!

gave us all the feels.
Honestly, it was straight out of The Jungle Book 🦚🐒

Hélène and Vishnu, along with their little family, made us feel instantly at home. The house was surrounded by monkeys, giant squirrels, and peacocks, with jackfruit, avocado, coffee beans, and peppercorns growing on trees all around us.

And just a 10-minute stroll away, a beautiful natural swimming pool.

Oh. My. God.
Heaven.

AND the freshest, tastiest coffee we’ve ever had. Every bean on the farm is hand-picked, washed, dried, carefully inspected, and roasted on site. Oooof ☕🔥

We didn’t need to stay long to know we’ll be back one day with our own little sproglets 💚