Devikulam

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.

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). 7 kms from munnar.