DEVIKULAM
HILL STATION
Irresistibly
green slopes touching the sky at a thousand meters. A lovely, little lake hidden
within the rolling hills. This is Devikulam. A dainty town sixteen kilometres
southwest of Munnar. A perfect picture of fairy- tale enchantment .
The old wiv's tale has is that once Sita Devi, the holy consort of Lord Rama,
came down to frolic in the lake and the place came to be spoken about as 'Devikulam'
(meaning the lake of the goddess), ever since.
Sidelights:
Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary: North of Devikulm, around 60 lms away (travel
timle: 90 min), sprawls the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary. With a sandalwood forest
ofn the nearer end, it falls away as a thorny, rain-shadowed scrub jungle found
nohere else in Kerala.
This
is where you could find the highly endangered species of both the grizzled giant
squirrel (last worldwide count : less than 200) and the star tortoise, iln addition
to large population of gaur. Deep withiln th sanctuary you will come across
the massive Thkoovanam falls on the river Chinnar. Recently erected watch towers
rise high above the vegetation and permit a fascinating view of the game.
Getting there: The ascent to Devikulam from Cochin takes 4 ½ hours
(149kms), while from Kottaym you are there in just under 4 hours (132 kms).
