Vembanad Lake - Central (Kochi Lake) | interesting place

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Kochi Lake (Malayalam: കൊച്ചിക്കായല്‍) is the portion of the Vembanad Lake located in and around the Kochi mainland. Among the several groups of small islands that the Kochi Lake forms home are, Vypin, Mulavukad, Vallarpadam, Willingdon Island etc. Kochi Lake is home for the Kochi Port which is build around the Willingdon Island, as well as the Vallarpadam island.

Vembanad Lake, the biggest brackish lagoon in Kerala, is a captivating picnic spot and a backwater tourism destination providing truly exciting opportunities for boating, fishing and sightseeing. The whole lake covers 80 km in north-west to south-east direction from Munambam, (Ernakulam District) in the north to Alappuzha in the south. The major portion of the lake (also known as Punnamada Lake) is in Kottayam District. The width varies from 500 m to 4 km and the depth from 1 m to 12 m.

The Periyar River discharges into the lagoon in the north and the Muvattupuzha River in the central part. The rivers Meenachil, Manimala, Achankovil and Pamba penetrate into the southern part of the lagoon. The banks of the Vembanad are surrounded with evergreen to semi-evergreen type of forest and also thickened with the plantation of coconut trees. The wooded banks attract a large number of nesting water-birds and there is a water-bird sanctuary, Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary, at the edge of the grounds.

The boats that ply on the Vembanad vary from the large stitched-hull, cargo carriers with domed mat-roofs, house boats, to little skiffs carrying lone line-fishermen with large palm-leaf hats.