Get up close and personal with tropical nature on a motorcycle tour of South India's communist state of Kerala

"SPLASH!" A brown eagle swoops into the water. In a cloud of water droplets it is on the wing again and in its powerful talons hangs a black sea snake. The snake twists and turns, but to no avail. At dusk, the eagle rises against the dark tropical sky and disappears.
The drama takes place right under our noses as we park to enjoy the sunset over a large mirror-like lake.
In a palm tree top, the eagle is probably now tearing its prey to shreds. With the eagle's disappearance, the silence has returned.
Only the hairs on the back of our necks stand up and bear witness to this dramatic hunt.

I step on the kickstarter, twist the throttle and put my Royal Enfield motorcycle into gear. The course is set for our accommodation, which this evening is a cozy houseboat. Twilight closes in on us as we drive along the water.
We are in South India's so-called "backwaters", a vast wetland consisting of a thousand lakes, lagoons and a vast network of canals.

This water-rich area has been a central part of South India's transportation system for centuries, until railways and trucks took over. However, the area's inhabitants still travel the many canals by boat, moving goods and people around by motor and paddle power. Here in the boats, locals sleep, live and transport themselves all year round. So it was only natural that we should spend the night on a houseboat this evening. The houseboat is equipped with a beautiful roof of coconut leaves and fibers, we notice as we embark.
After departing, we glide quietly through the canals along the palm-fringed banks, where fishermen and small villages are squeezed together on narrow islets, in some places a few meters wide.

Motorcycle monk as a travel companion

My fellow traveler is 31-year-old Pemba Sherpa, a former Buddhist monk. He grew up in the Indian Himalayas. At 16, he took his vows as a monk, was shaved and enrolled in a Buddhist monastery to immerse himself in metaphysical studies and meditation.
After a few years as a monk, however, he realized that there is more to life than prayer wheels and long, holy rhymes.
Pemba left the monastic life and converted to the Royal Enfield motorcycle and a life of guiding motorcyclists from all over the world with adventure and gasoline in his blood.

Now he knows every mountain pass in the Indian Himalayas better than his own trouser pocket.
When the mountain passes in the Himalayas snow and close in winter, he heads to the beaches of Goa, India's answer to Ibiza.
Here he runs a coffee shop with his Russian girlfriend, who does more than serve coffee and cake. She also performs as a professional belly dancer.

Pempa always speaks with a smile on his face and a gentle and heart-warming laugh. With Pempa, I have traveled thousands of kilometers in the gigantic and majestic mountains of the Indian Himalayas. But on this trip, we set out to explore the southwestern corner of India, the green and lush state of Kerala.

Marx and coconut

Kerala is arguably India's most prosperous state. Here, 95 percent of the population can both read and write, and the region is free of the poverty and deprivation that otherwise prevents many from traveling in India. Kerala is the closest thing we have to an Indian 'welfare state', where wealth is far better distributed than in the other states. The government is communist here and one of the first things that strikes you in Kerala is the mix of symbols such as the hammer and sickle, red banners and flags with images of communist luminaries Che Guevara, Stalin and Lenin seen alongside the many Hindu gods. The whole menagerie is flanked by palm groves and countless roadside stalls selling green, yellow and brown coconuts. The name Kerala is made up of the syllables "Kera" and "Alam", meaning "coconut palm" and "land".

Touring nature's sumptuous perfumery

Earlier in history, spices had the same value as gold and silver. This prompted European explorers to cross the Indian Ocean. Vasco da Gama managed to round the Cape of Good Hope in 1498 and landed his fleet in Kerala, supplying all the spices we now use in our daily households. And with that, Vasco da Gama's fortune was made. And his wealth secured.

We drive through countless plantations of cardamom, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, turmeric, star anise and vanilla. The scent of the plantations is a visit to nature's sumptuous perfumery. In many places, the spices are left to dry on the roadside. It's an intoxicating experience to open your nose at full volume and soak up every scent and aroma.

Kerala has an ancient tradition of using Indian natural medicine, Ayurveda, to cure and heal ailments with plant oils and herbs. Many tourists visit Kerala with the aim of being healed through Ayurveda.
However, some people just use it for wellness and pampering, and the Ayurvedic oil massage might also help those poor bikers with sore buttocks after a long day on the bike?

Tea bushes as far as the eye can see

One of the great natural attractions in southern India is the Western Ghats mountain range. Here you find yourself in a magnificent landscape of endless tea plantations. The tea bushes rarely grow more than 1 meter high, as they are constantly trimmed and cut by the female pickers so that the bushes resemble small Japanese bonsai trees.

We drive through the winding paths of the tea plantations, perfect for motorcycling. Each ridge offers us one magnificent view after another. Viewed from a ridge, the tea bushes form a picturesque pattern reminiscent of huge snake skins or giant turtle shells. No matter how you choose to interpret the landscape, it has an almost hypnotic quality that makes it necessary to stop, linger and photograph to capture the adventurous impressions.

In the green hills, female tea pickers greet us with warm smiles that warm our hearts and minds in the cool misty haze of these 2,000 meters of altitude.

English high tea versus Indian masala chai

One of the most enjoyable parts of the motorcycle ride is when we stop at one of the small makeshift roadside stalls built along the highways from boards and other simple materials. Here, Indian spice tea is cooked up with sugar and fresh ginger and enjoyed with a view of the mountain landscape under the shade of a fig tree.

It was the English colonists and planters who brought the tea bushes from China in the 1800s to break the Chinese monopoly on tea on the world market. In the process, they also taught Indians to drink tea in the English way, but with a twist. The Indians adopted the tea culture, but added spices and milk to make the famous spicy and sweet Indian masala chai.

During the colonial period, India was referred to as the "Jewel of the Empire" and in the Himalayan mountains of northern India, Darjeeling, as well as in the Western Ghats mountain range in the south, the British built small towns, the so-called hill stations, following the British model.
The English preferred the cool mountain air to the hot lowlands. The mountain environment reminded them of the climate they knew from home.

Here the English could drink high tea in cool surroundings, hunt hubertus with foxes imported from England and distance themselves from the Indians by having areas that could only be entered by wearing "closed shoes", which was typical for an English gentleman but not for an Indian coolie who wore sandals or was barefoot.

The temple in Trivandrum

Kerala is not only rich in magnificent nature and spices. A visit to the lavish Padmanabhaswamy temple is a testament to the cultural richness of this region. In 2011, the temple's treasure chambers were opened following allegations that they were being mismanaged.
It ended up making headlines around the world. Upon opening, sealed rooms were found that had not previously been explored.

The treasury was found to contain bags of diamonds, a half-meter-long gold chain, 19 kilograms of gold coins and statues of gods and goddesses. The gold treasure now belongs to the royal family of Kerala and the palace is a cornucopia of riches from India, China and Europe. The treasures are estimated to be worth over 130 billion dollars.

In the footsteps of Vasco da Gama

We roll through the streets of the European colonial city of Fort Kochi and park our motorcycles for now. Fort Kochi is an old European trading post with buildings by the Portuguese, Dutch and English who have lived here for centuries.
Overall, the city has a southern European and relaxed vibe.

Kochi has a 17th-century synagogue with a Jewish quarter and an anachronistic washing place where people wash by hand and iron with old irons filled with glowing charcoal, as well as fragrant spice markets. And Fort Kochi is the place where Vasco da Gama ended his days.

In India's oldest Catholic church, St. Francis. St. Francis is the tomb where he rested before his remains were transported to Portugal.
Through the narrow alleys where no cars can pass, the fishmonger pulls his bike along, shouting: "Meen, meen!" "Fish, fish!" in the local language, Malayalam.

On his luggage rack, he has a white Styrofoam box with exotic items such as tiger prawns, jumbo prawns, barracudas, red snappers, parrotfish and crabs - all common everyday food here in tropical South India! And of course, we'll taste it as we sit down to a farewell dinner and toast to a successful and exhilarating motorcycle adventure through perhaps India's most beautiful state, Kerala!

View of the Kolukkumalai tea plantation, or Top Station, as it is more commonly known. The tea plantation is located at an altitude of 2100 meters, making it the highest in the world. On the way there, we passed endless rows of tea bushes, conifers, a large lake and rocks.