Pet Relocation Service in
Alappuzha

Kuttanad (below sea level) · Coir capital · Nehru Trophy Boat Race

Two things that shape every Alappuzha pet move

One: Kuttanad is the only place in India where farming happens below sea level, and the roads that run through it are the most unusual pickup conditions we handle anywhere. The Kuttanad region lies across the Alappuzha, Kottayam, and Pathanamthitta districts, and it is one of the few places on earth where paddy is cultivated up to two metres below sea level. The fields are protected by a system of dykes — locally called bunds — that hold back the water, and the fields themselves are drained by pumping stations that run through the cropping season. The system is regulated by the Thanneermukkom Bund at the southern end of Vembanad Lake, which controls how much saltwater can enter the paddy area. What this means for pet moves is genuinely specific. The roads that connect the villages of Kuttanad — Champakulam, Kavalam, Ramankary, Pulinkunnu, Nedumudi, and the surrounding settlements — mostly run on top of the paddy-field bunds. These are narrow, often single-lane roads with paddy on both sides at a level lower than the road, and some stretches have no barrier between the road and the water on either side. A full-size cab can pass on many of these bunds, but only slowly and only when nothing is coming the other way, and after heavy monsoon rain the bunds can become soft and occasionally sink. We plan pickups from the Kuttanad belt in daylight only, with a smaller vehicle whenever the bund is too narrow, and we check the district's road advisories before confirming any pickup in the deeper Kuttanad villages.

Two: Alappuzha is the coir capital of India, and the Nehru Trophy Boat Race in August reshapes Punnamada Lake and the surrounding canals. Alappuzha is the largest coir-producing district in the country, and the coir industry has been the defining local economy for over a century. Coir is made from the husk of the coconut, and the processing happens in stages: the husks are retted in backwater pits or in tanks, then defibered in factories, and then the fibre is spun into yarn — historically by hand, in homes, and now increasingly by machine — before being woven into mats, mattings, and floor coverings. Alappuzha town and the Cherthala belt together contain hundreds of coir-processing units and weaving sheds, and the state-owned coir federation is headquartered here. The industry was once the largest employer in the district, and although it has shrunk since its peak in the mid-20th century, it is still very much alive. The second industry-defining fact about Alappuzha is the Nehru Trophy Boat Race. Held on the second Saturday of August every year on Punnamada Lake, the race is the largest snake-boat (chundan vallam) competition in Kerala, with boats of over 100 rowers each competing on the 1,400-metre course. The race attracts visitors from across India and abroad, and for several days around the event the roads and canal banks around Punnamada, Thathampally, and the finishing-point areas carry heavy crowds. We do not schedule pickups from the immediate Punnamada belt during the race week, and for the wider town we plan early morning slots. Separately, Alappuzha is home to one of the largest houseboat fleets in the world — over 500 houseboats operate on the backwaters — and the canal-side lanes where the boats dock are narrow and often busy with tourist traffic during the peak season. We factor that into pickups from the canal-adjacent belts. Waterproof crate liners and covered loading apply through the monsoon from June to September, and pickups are rescheduled at no cost on red-alert days.