Race Around the world. Where is Kanyakumari?
In April 2025, the BBC announced that the new season of Race Around the World would start at the Great Wall of China and end at Kanyakumari, in India.
Kanyakumari is not a name which instantly springs to mind when someone mentions India. Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi. Yes, all these plus perhaps Pune, Shimla, Agra are all household names in the U.K. So where on earth is Kanyakumari and why are the teams racing to this final end point?
We were on the move in October 2024. Fast approaching Diwali and on a local train, with seemingly most of the Indian population, heading for a holiday. We were only travelling from Kochi to Kanyakumari. This involved just seven hours in an Air-Conditioned carriage in ‘Chair’ seats. We were going to arrive in the dark. It was a long journey through Kerala.
On arrival we were immediately thrown into the standard Indian Station chaos. I am assuming that the teams will have become used to Indian organised chaos by the time they reach the pensiular of the country of India. That they won’t be phased by drivers who are determined to take you to an “excellent hotel”. Obviously, on a commission, as you have already told them the hotel you have an exisiting booking at.
You can’t get any further south in India, and as a result Kanyakumari is a cross between the crazy chaos of an Indian village and a British Seaside town. It is cheesy.
Indian Towns often seem to sell the same stuff, but Kanyakumari has a speciality. Kanyakumari’s exuberance is shells. Every conceivable item made from shells……..standard tourist fare in a seaside town. Far from authentic, but they did make a lovely change from stall upon stall selling dreamcatchers. The second thing which the contestants will have to decide is whether to embark on a souvenir tattoo. The number of stalls offering these services is bewildering. Perhaps they will have had six weeks making fun of Indian spelling mistakes on important signage and hoardings, and may well decide that this isn’t the country to commit to the ink.
Kanyakumari is a town which services the needs of the Indian Tourist. So it should. Drawn to the ‘end of the world’ just to see it. It is not the worst town in India that I have visited but the constant begging is exhausting. The Tsunami garden memorial is unkept and forgotten. 20 years since this natural event shook the world, people here have short memories.
When we were there, ‘works’ were being undertaken on the island, visible just off the coast. We risked the 75p return ferry. There are just two things to see on the island.
Firstly, the Vivekana Rock. A memorial celebrating the three days Vivekana spent meditating on the rock. Today he would have to find somewhere else to meditate as it is no longer peaceful. However, I assume the end-point will be here somewhere,
An alternative site for the finish could be at the Thiruvallur statue. Celebrating the life of a scholar. Being on a separate part of the island it was usually approached as an additional stop on the ferry. It was closed when we visited, as the construction of what appeared to be a very unsympathetic bridge was still underway.
Later, we returned to the end of the world for an unspectacular sunset. No doubt the contestants will be accommodated in one of the more ostentatious hotels on the peninsula and won’t have to suffer with asthmatic air-conditioning and the almost impossible task of trying to find somewhere to eat before 7.30 p.m.
Kanyakumari was an educational visit. Here we learned that there is a difference between Right Hand and Left Shells …… so that alone will be worth the six week journey for the contestants!
Personally, I am looking forward to the series and will be very attentive to the China Leg. This is still on my bucket list. I shall be taking notes!
