Hailing from the village of Muthuvankudi where Ecotones is located, Manoj is well-versed with the peoples and their cultures which goes a long way in understanding the pulse of the area and its people. Stationed at Ecotones throughout the year, he oversees all the activities offered at Ecotones – from accompanying guests on captivating cycling routes, imparting information about the area, its spices and agriculture along his one-of-a-kind spice walks, to leading the way along challenging treks, showing you around the village and captivating you with the tantalizing aromas of cuisine

Shakti Trails is Zuzana's private collection of (extra)ordinary people and their stories, whose experiences are transferred into various trails shared by travelers. "Art of Travel" is based on a philosophy of three words: SPIRIT TO DISCOVER What makes people extraordinary is their spirit! Spirit is inspiring energy present in every creative activity. We are discovering people, whose spirit can inspire others. They are artists, photographers, historians, ayurveda doctors, yoga teachers, spiritual experts, astrologers, ecologists, travelers, simply everyone. Spirits are our local

Ayurveda & Yoga Trails connect Indian traditional medicine system with dynamic world we are living in. Word Ayurveda means knowledge of life & Shakti Trails are about art of traveling we connect 'knowledge' & 'art', but also adjusting the way you travel to way you live. Ayurveda is a science of life and it is a spiritual science. It does not deal with treating patients and their diseases. It has a far more supreme goal - to bring about understanding of what a human being is in his true nature. It makes one understand that everything we need, we already have. If you decide

"India is the cradle of human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most astrictive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only! (Mark Twain) Indian subcontinent is home to one of the richest and the most ancient civilizations in the world, which existed over 5,000 years ago. These civilizations settle in the Indus River Valley, origin of many of the ideas, philosophies and movements which have shaped the destiny of mankind. Known to be the land of epics

There aren’t many places in the world, to which monsoon winds and the smell of spices brought more sea trading ships than to the Fort Cochin port and its part Mattancherry in Kerala! In one melting pot, oldest Hindu cults worshiped by Brahmins from different parts of India were mixed. In the 6th century, Arab merchants built the oldest Muslim mosque in India here. The oldest Jewish community in India settled here. The original Christian values preached by St. Thomas, not influenced by the Bible, which was brought here by Portuguese sailors only in the 15th century, remained here. Sailors

Art of Indian subcontinent must be understood in relation to the culture and ideological concepts of this diverse and highly ritualistic civilization. Traditional Indian art is expressive, sensitive, and highly designed. It portrays a world, which has been relative to the beliefs of the Indian people. Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism - revolve around the conceptual paradox of existence. That is, our senses; sight, touch, smell, taste, and sound; and our emotions and inner spirit. Within Indian art, it is all these things that make our world. From the 11th to the 18th century, Indian Art undur

India's languages, religions, dance, music, architecture, food, customs differ from place to place within the country. Each state of India, indeed each village, lends a little of its unique culture to how a festival is celebrated, creating almost endless variations. Festivals are perhaps more impressive and varied in Hinduism than in any other religion. The devout Hindu knows these are times of profound mysticism, when God and the Gods touch our world, revitalize our souls, lighten karmas and bless our families. Before each celebration, vows are taken, scriptures are studied, pilgrimages

“Rabindranath Tagore, in his poem compares man to a bamboo flute. If you take a look at what is inside a flute, you find nothing but emptiness. But a musician, which is our life energy, prana, can create splendid music out of emptiness.“ Prana, universal energy, is our melody of life. It can be experienced everywhere in touch with nature in the air, water and food we consume. We explore this energy in all its colors, aromas and tastes, because we believe that the best food tastes like happiness. In Sanskrit, this philosophy is expressed in word " vishadam" , which means sadness

We are inspired by Mahabharata & Ramayana, ancient myths, which are according to us, the oldest travel guides across the Indian continent. These epics are a journey across the Indian landscape, across its colorful rainbow of heroic deities. They are a journey through India's sacred geography, its history and mythology. They are also an exploration of the human archetypes represented by ancient characters. These epics contain Indian history, traditions and life habits, all melted together into a golden pot of wisdom. They are unconscious mental maps guiding Indians through daily

The issues of sustainability and conservation form the core of our culture. We cooperate only with very few naturalists and wildlife experts in South Asia, who are very carefully, design our trails. Our aim is to give guests a unique and comfortable experience that does not come as a sacrifice to nature, protected areas and national parks. After all, we believe in ayurveda, which a human as the assemblage of the five universe elements and the higher self. The universe is made up of five nature elements: Earth (solid state of matter), Water (liquid state), Fire (transforms solids into liquid