Silence and Snakes
One of the least disturbed forests of ‘God’s own country’ the Silent Valley. It is named so because it is devoid of the most common sound found in the Rain forests–the incessant chirping of cicadas. The local name of the forest is ‘Sairandhri’, another name of Draupadi, the wife of the Pandavas. Some believe its name is derived from the lion-tailed Macaque, whose scientific name is Macca Silenus. Due to its topographic isolation no human being has ever made it their home.
Malampuzha Dam is in the foothills of the Western Ghats. It is known as the abode of Yakshi, because of the exquisite sculpture of Yakshi in the landscaped gardens of the irrigation dam at this popular picnic spot. The fundamental appeal of this town is the unabashed yet enticing sculpture created in concrete by Kanai Kunhiraman, Kerala’s best-known contemporary sculptor. Referred as the Vrindavan of Kerala, the place derives its name from the Malampuzha River a tributary of Bharatpuzha, the state’s second largest river. The Rock Garden here, created by the famous re-cycling artist Nekchand, is above all worth spending time exploring. Also boating on the reservoir is another favorite sport.
Set up in 1984 by the state govt. the park houses several snakes like the Forsten’s cat snake, the brown vine snake and of course the King Cobra, Indian rock python, kraits, the trinket snake and the rock pit viper, the wolf snake, and a variety of vipers like the saw scaled viper and Russel viper. There are various types of cobra like the common cobra, the monocled cobra, and the spectacled cobra. Also in the park are some varieties of water snakes, crocodiles and the American green iguana. Also in Malampuzha is the thread garden, a museum of a replica of nature, all made of thread.