Welcome to Bay Island Driftwood Fossil Museum

A museum to display a unique collection of superior quality driftwood sculptures of very high artistic value, prepared through a rare and innovative modern art form, Bay Island Driftwood Museum is located at the scenic village of Kumarakom. A visitor would find there a huge collection of root sculptures of various shapes and designs.

During her professional tenure in the Andaman & Nicobar archipelago, a dynamic lady school teacher used to pick up pieces of driftwood deposited by the sea in the sea shores, comprising twisted tree trunks, stumps, roots etc. which had potential for transformation to sculptures with marginal efforts, thanks to the Bay of Bengal prone to frequent cyclones that make the sea turbulent and unpredictable. Every cyclone brought back many things to the shore as it washed away from it. Some of these wood pieces and roots were centuries old, and having drifted across the seas they became more resilient. Having traversed vast distances, what is left of a tree is its sturdiest part which has weathered much inclemency. The gathered pieces were cleansed, dead parts removed, scraped and trimmed to conform to the shape she had in mind. Many of these pieces closely resemble birds, animals, reptiles, amphibians and fishes. Shaping, scraping, polishing, finishing and preserving are done with fierce dedication.

The admirers and connoisseurs of this rare and innovative form of art frequent the Bay Island Driftwood Museum. The student community finds the art form adopted in the preparation of the exhibits in the museum interesting and educative as the museum inculcates in them the qualities of imagination, creativity, originality, and initiation to produce useful articles out of materials normally considered waste.

National record 2010 & 2013 The Limca Book of Records has certified that Bay Island Museum ( est 2001) located in kumarakom, kerala, the only drift wood museum, showcases objects that have been painstakingly recovered and collected from the andaman seas and beaches by Raji Punnoose (proprietor and curator) during her career as a post graduate teacher in the islands.

The India Book of Records(2013) also has certified that the Bay Island Driftwood Museum(Estt 2001) is the only driftwood museum in India that showcases driftwood of various shapes and sizes.

Lonely Planet - Tourist guide on South India It is worth stopping by the Bay Island Driftwood Museum, not least for owner Raji Punnoose’s animated explanations of her life’s work. Inside is a motley collection of driftwood from the Andaman Sea which has been cleaned up and arranged to resemble in all manner of shapes and wildlife. Some pieces have striking resemblances to real life objects, while others take a lot more imagination and prompting from the convincing Ms.Punnoose.

Uniqueness In India

The Bay Island Driftwood Museum is the only one of its kind in the country. The salient features of the museum are also added in the website of the Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala, www.keralatourism.org