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 under4 hours (132 kms).