Green balm for your eyes

There are a few words people tend to use when they describe Konaseema. Green is one of them, lush is another, verdant&hellip and when they finish with the synonyms they come back with greater stress to &lsquogreeeeeen&rsquo. This small patch of coastal Andhra Pradesh is part of the Godavari delta, the triangle between the distributaries Gautami and Vasistha. It is a particularly fertile tract &mdash paddy is a favourite crop and you are greeted everywhere by the susurrus of coconut trees.

The belt is also particularly high yielding to the traveller. A hundred-kilometre radius around Rajamundry throws up a veritable feast the forested hills of the Papikonda Wildlife Sanctuary lie in one direction, the mangroves of the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary in another there are day cruises in scenic backwaters and you&rsquoll stumble upon &lsquoa-temple-of-great-significance&rsquo roughly every ten minutes.

Contact Konaseema Tourism (040&ndash69998111, konaseematourism.com). Dedicated to promoting the area, the tour operator offers information as well as a range of interesting packages (all customisable), ex-Rajamundry. Rajamundry, the nearest airport/railhead, is 400km from Hyderabad.