The District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) in Palakkad is planning to introduce the adventure activity kayaking in various water bodies under its area. As part of this effort, trials runs were carried out at Mankara Check-dam, Mangalam Dam, and Malampuzha Dam.
The trial was held along with Palakkad district administration and Jellyfish Watersports, a Kozhikode-based adventure sports centre. At Mankara, the kayaking trial was done by a team led by Arjun Pandian, Sub-Collector, Ottappalam. Among those present included DTPC secretary K G Ajeesh and Jellyfish general manager Sreejith.
According to DTPC officials, the trial run was a success and there were no hiccups. Follow-up measures to implement the kayaking project in Palakkad would be taken up, they added. As part of the initiative, a public display of kayaking is planned. Moreover, trials would be organised in more water bodies such as Thoothappuzha, Pothundi, and Kanjirappuzha.
An extremely popular adventure water sport in many countries around the world, kayaking involves rowing a small canoe named kayak. The term 'kayak' is derived from 'qajaq,' the word for a canoe in Greenlandic language. Each kayak has one or two 'cockpits' to seat the paddlers.