The Popular Boat Races are the ‘Must to Watch’ thing, if visiting the God’s Own Country

Traditional boat races are few of the attractions for both domestic and foreign tourists that come for a visit to the God’s Own Country.

Chundan Vallams (Snake Boats) are widely used for traditional boat races, in Kerala. Travelers that visit Kerala should not miss any of these – ride on Kettu Vallams (Houseboats) across the backwaters of Kerala and witnessing the popular boat race (‘Vallam Kali’) events, of this Indian state.

Kerala Boat Races

Here, are some of the popular boat races of Kerala (including but not limited to) - Payippad Boat Race, Aranmula Boat Race, Thriprayar Boat Race, Nehru Trophy Boat Race (one of the most popular events), Indira Gandhi Boat Race (an annual event in Kochi), President’s Trophy Boat Race and so on.

The Aranmula Boat Race is held during Onam (the Hindu Festival), while the Thriprayar Boat Race is held in the Canoly (Conolly) Canal facing the popular Thriprayar Shree Rama Temple.

Of the boat races in Kerala, the Nehru Trophy Boat Race is the most popular and held in the Punnamada Lake (near Alleppey). The Kerala Tourism Boats manages the annual Indira Gandhi boat race, in the Lake of Cochin. However, the President’s Trophy Boat race is held in the Ashtamudi Lake, Kollam every year (on 01 November) to mark the “Birthday of Kerala”. This Indian state (Kerala) ‘was created’ on 01 November 1956.

The Chundan Vallams (Snake Boats) used for boat races in Kerala have the worldwide recognition as ‘the largest water vessel, used for sporting event’. These Snake boats measure lengthwise about 100-138 feet with the rear end standing tall at about 20 feet.

The experience of watching helmsmen, rowers and singers on different Snake boats during the racing events is an enthralling experience for everyone involved, be it the event partakers or the visitors. This competitive sporting event is the perfect example of team effort and cooperation. Boats from different districts of Kerala participate in the Snake boat-racing event and ‘get rewarded’ by cash prizes and trophies.

During the racing event, the singers on the boats clad in traditional costumes sing different folk/cultural songs to encourage the rowers, in order to make the latter propel boats harder and faster.

Travelers that look forward to visiting the God’s Own Country should not miss any of these boat-racing events of Kerala (specified above), to go home capturing beautiful moments.

While on backwater tours across Kerala with BookHouseBoats.Com, the travelers can check with the escorted guide regarding any such event, if being held in that region (then) and should not miss to witness that for any reason. That would be a very memorable experience, for sure – just try it, when in Kerala.