Attractive Places of Bangladesh

Lawachara is one of the last remaining chunk of rain forest in Bangladesh. Lawachara National Park is located approximately 160 km northeast of Dhaka, 60 km south of the city of Sylhet in the civil administrative units of Kamalganj Upazilla, Maulvibazar District – about 10 kilometers from the town of Srimangal. The Park incorporates the southern and eastern parts of West Bhanugach Reserved Forest, within Lawachara, Chautali and Kalachara Beats, Moulvibazar Range, Sylhet Forest Division. The area was formally established as a National Park in 1996, incorporating an area of 1,250 hectares. Many of the large mammal species have long since disappeared from the Park area (e.g. tigers, leopards, bears, wild dogs, and sambar) probably as a combined result of hunting and habitat fragmentation. However, viable populations of many small and medium sized mammal species that can survive in disturbed or secondary habitats (e.g., jackals, small cats, barking deer, wild pigs) still remain. The Park also supports important populations of; gibbons, langurs and macaques. Two of these (hoolock gibbon and capped langur) are key indicator species for the development and implementation of conservation measures here. The Park and adjacent Reserved Forest support a documented avifauna of 337 species, one third of the total bird species known from Bangladesh. The avifauna includes a large number of species that are dependent on dense ground cover and undergrowth (47 species) and/or forest cover (175 species).



The Park is also thought to support a rich diversity of other faunal groups (reptiles, invertebrates, some fishes and amphibians). However, very little information on these groups is currently available. Finally, the Park is drained by a number of small, sandy bedded streams, all of which dry up following the end of the rainy season in October November. Although limited in extent, aquatic habitats and riparian (streamside) vegetation are important elements of overall habitat composition. Both of these elements are thought to harbor specialized plant and animal species although inventories are incomplete.

There are several other similar forest areas near Lawachara. Satchari National Park and Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary are two such forest areas nearby. But those two areas are some distance behind Lawachara in terms of development for ecotourism. This is the main reason behind selection of Lawachara as my first venture into the world of rain forests.