GAABY WORLD COMMUNITY HOMESTAY
Gaaby World Community Homestay is funded in a community development program that aims to help locals in diversifying their incomes through sustainable tourism. Community homestay houses are located in Chennamkary, a traditional and beautiful village in the Kuttanad Backwater region Alleppey, Kerala, India.
All community hosts are farmers and have a garden in their houses. In visiting this community, guests have the opportunity to stay in a farmers village house, learn about their their traditional living practices and enjoy cooking and tasting of their traditional homely-made food.
GUEST CAPACITY AND ROOM FACILITIES
Visitors are welcomed to host in four different community family houses, that provide separate bath attached rooms. Each house has five or six rooms available, with 2-3 beds per room. One house has 6 standard twin/double/triple rooms while the other 2 houses have five standard twin/double rooms. One house has 5 twin/double air conditioning deluxe rooms.
Total guest capacity per night equals 45 guests. Under request, all rooms could be provided with electric fans.
Other facilities offered consider guest reception services, meals provision (included in the per night price per guest), park and playground for kids, refrigerator, running water, towels, accommodation on APAI. All guests will be provided with clean sheets and towels. Transport to and from airport and/or bus terminal could also be provided (upon request).
OUR LOCATION
Gaaby World Community Homestay is located in West Chennamkary, PO, Alleppey – 688501 Kerala, INDIA. This is a typical hometown of Kerala India, beautiful place for visitors to learn about the local culture and their traditions.
In general terms, this community homestay is easy accessible from main transport areas. For example, it is only 100 km far from Cochin Airport, 80 km from Ernakulam KSRTC Bus Statiom, 75 km from Ernakulam Railway Station, 12 km from Alleppey KSRTC Bus Station, 10 km from Trivandrum Airport and 150 km by public bus and/or private vehicle.
TRAVEL DETAILS
(i) Access by bus: In Alleppey – Changanasserry Road, which is 10 Kms far from Alleppey KSRTC Bus Station (before Nedumudy bridge, a junction named Pooppally is the stop), turn left and move 600 meters from the junction. Buses run every 20 minutes everyday.
(ii) Access by Water: Choose a public ferry from Alleppey boat station to Nedumudy VIA Vaidyashala boat jetty. Get down at the Vaidyashala boat jetty. The one way trip takes 1.5 hours in total. Ticket fair is $INR 13 per person. Private boats are also available and fairs need to be discussed in person.
ACTIVITIES OFFERED
(i) Village walk and Canoe in Kettuvallam: Visitors are invited to walk through the village path and its river banks experiencing some traditional agricultural practices such as rice farming, coconut harvest and growing, coconut coir production, toddy tapping, use of medicinal plants and building and carpentry practices (amongst others).
(ii) Canoe ride in Kettuvallam: Guests are welcomed to ride big canoe for a maximum of 24 guests at a time. All guests are provided with life jackets and leaded by two expert local rovers. Canoe trips are generally accompanied by two students that sing traditional village folk songs.
(iii) Village bicycling trip: this trip is guided by local guides, whom will show the way to guests and provide them with all needed information for a safe trip. During the ride, guests are welcomed to stop and take pictures, also to rest and feed/hydrate themselves as needed. Local guides are experts in providing specific information on the landscapes discovered, history of the places, types of vegetation/landscapes, etc. The whole round trip considers a total of 40 km, though this distance could be adapted upon guests´ specific requests.
(iv) Fishing, river swimming and interacting with local children: guests are provided with the opportunity to fish using local traditions such as hooks. Local guides will teach guests how to prepare the hook and treat fishes if encountered. Guests are also welcomed to swim in the river in front of the community houses where local children are happily interacting with guests.
(v) Traditional cooking sessions: guests are welcomed to cook with locals and learn about their traditional flavours/recipes and kitchen routines. After the cooking sessions, local families and guests taste the cooked dinner together.
