Madhupur Park- home to a large variety of wildlife

Madhupur National Park is the oldest natural forest in our country. This forest is about one hundred years old. It is the third-largest natural forest in Bangladesh. The forest that has its boundless beauty is truly amazing. The local people called this forest a Gajari forest too. This forest is a famous tourist spot for its natural beauty.

The distance of Madhupur forest from Tangail sadar is about 47 km. This forest is located at a distance of 125 km from Dhaka. The forest was once under the control of the kings, sometimes it was under the control of the zamindars (landlords).

This forest was established as a National Park in 1962 by the then administration. In 1982, the forest was officially declared a national park. It is one of the natural resources of Bangladesh. The total area of this forest is 8436 hectares. The river Bangshai flows by the side of the forest. The flow of the river beside this forest improves its beauty.

Although Modhupur forest is famous for its Sal trees, there are about 176 species of plants which include 73 tree species, 22 scrub species,  27 climbers, 45 medicinal plants, 8 types of grasses, and 1 palm species. About 40% of the forest area is covered with Sal trees.

In the forest, there are found many types of trees Bahera, Amalaki, Halud Amra, Jiga, Bhadi, Ashwath, Bot, Sarpagandha, Asparagus, Joyna, Bidha, Behula, different types of hill potatoes, shati, and many unnamed trees.  Besides these trees, there is a 7000-acre rubber forest on one side of the forest.  At different times, this rubber garden takes different forms and it always looks so nice.

Once upon a time this forest had lots of elephants, cheetahs, peacocks and was famous for tigers but nowadays these animals are not founded in this area. Most are now extinct. At present, this National Park has about 190 types of animals. Of which 21 are mammals, 140 birds and 29 types of snakes are available.

Among them are mouthed Hanuman, red-faced monkey, Maya deer, Chitra deer, wild cat, Bagdasa, rabbit, wild boar, fish, owl, woodpecker, forest rooster, chicken, etc are mostly seen in many places of this forest.  Many beehives are available in this forest.  It is believed that Madhupur was named according to the honey of this forest

There is a deer breeding center here which was established in 1982. This is located near Lahariya Beet House. There are many Chitra deer in this deer breeding center. Moreover, there is a lot of Hanuman also, everyone must be fascinated to see them. There is a high tower next to this breeding center. Where we can see many areas of the forest. The forest looks like a vast green field. That scene is very much beautiful which makes our mind refresh Alhamdulillah.

From here we can go to Dokhla Rest House. The way from here to Dokhla rest house is full of dense green forest. Dokhla Rest House is located at a place called Dokhla. There are also Chunia Cottages, Bakul Cottages, two picnic spots, Jui and Chameli gardens. There are artificial lakes in this forest. Besides the Dokhla Rest House, there is a children’s park also. There is a great opportunity for electricity here. There is also the availability of drinking water system and other facilities.

There are several communities of people seen in this forest area. Various indigenous communities including Garo, Koch, Barman are meet here. Most of the people are depending on this forest. Their culture, habit is not like us. Their beliefs are different from one another. Indigenous people make their dresses by their own looms. There is a small market called Karitas for buying and selling those clothes.

Several days ago, most probably in 2014, we went on a study tour in Madhupur forest. In fact, this was at Madhupur National Park. Wherever I looked, it was just green and green. The road flows through the middle of the surrounding trees. We got into the Madhupur National Park Range Office and Assistant Forest Conservator’s Office upon entering the main gate. We had to enter the forest with permission.

The destination was inside the deep forest. We were walking through the greenery path. There were no people we have seen in this area but many chirping of birds sounds attracted us most. After walking for about an hour on the brick-paved road we got to see the monkey kingdom. That scene was amazing.

There was an opportunity to see the full view of the forest from the Tower. It was so much difficult to climb the tower but the feelings after climbing were much more joyous. It was like a greenery sea’s like a view from the tower and this was so beautiful scenery I had ever seen in my life.

Every part of this Madhupur National Park is full of enjoyable resources. The Madhupur National park must be one of the central points of eco-tourism. It is obviously a suitable place for a tourist spot. We give much more concentration to spread this as a tourist spot via different media and for promoting internet is the best media. If we try to promote more and more then it will be one of the tourist centers in near future.

Writer: Owner of EpPe shopping