“There are few places on earth that can match Kerala in its natural beauty. There are even fewer places to match it in  History, and Culture. With its wealth of natural resources like spices, timber, sandalwood and ivory, Kerala has  attracted traders from the orient and the occident from the times of the Phoenicians. Intrepid travelers of yore like Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta and Ma He The Chinese Eunuch Admiral, made a beeline for Kerala and stopped over in Kerala for years, enchanted by Kerala’s beauty and prosperity. It was in search of a sea-route to India and Kerala that Columbus and his men stumbled upon the Americas in 1492. Columbus thought it was India he had set foot on and called the natives Indians and the land (West) Indies. Six years later a Portuguese explorer called Vasco Da Gamma succeeded where Columbus 'failed'.Kerala and was the first European to set foot on Indian Gamma landed in soil after the Arabs had blocked off the conventional sea lanes through the Mediterranean. At the time Gamma was more of a celebrity for landing in Kerala than Columbus was for landing in the Americas. EITC offers you a unique opportunity to be a part of that tradition of these great travelers and adventurers and to take in India and Kerala in all its varied dimensions of natural beauty, culture, cuisine and ecology.