Korerhat Part-1 Stretching down to the south-eastern corner of the country the hill forests of Chittagong north division is among the least known scenic tract of the country. On our return trip to Dhaka from Pablakhali wildlife sanctuary we saw a fantastic patch of forest along the Ramgarh-Dhaka highway. Although some of the hilltops are depleted of plants but the valleys were still clothed with dense vegetation. We decided to explore the area on our convenient time for the page.
From the Forest Department, I came to know that the name of the forest tract is Korerhat. In fact Korerhat is a forest range administered by the Chittagong north forest division and is famous for its teak plantation. There is a rest house owned by forest department. It is about five hours drive form Dhaka and we made it on a hot and humid day in mid September. Orientation of the rest house was must be a imaginative one; built on a little elevated flat ground surrounded by scattered indigenous and exotic plants. Other than forest officials, very few tourist visits the rest house and hence was maintained poorly. Nevertheless, our upstairs accommodation was cosy enough to our comfort. Putting our luggage inside the room, we assembled in the dining room and had a simple but tasty lunch. One newly appointed Assistant Conservator of Forests and the in-charge Ranger came to greet us at the deep veranda of the rest house. We came to learn from them that most of the primary forests had been felled during British rule to accommodate commercially important teak. Remaining forests are of mixed cluster of secondary growth and patches of primary semi-evergreen mosit forests, large animals like elephant, Goyal, Samber Deer and leopard had long been extinct. Only some stray black bear and barking deer sometimes encountered. One interesting news that interested me was that the forest personnel occasionally witnessed a pair of mainland serow coming out of the hills to quench their thirst in the hill streams, but in recent time they used to see only one animal at dawn or dusk. Other than sitting in a hide overlooking a forest clearing or hiding beside a waterhole in the hill forests, it is very difficult to see wild animals through the dense undergrowth. The Foresters promised us to show barking deer at dawn the next day. The news excited us as these deer are very shy and secretive in nature, although these little red animals are distributed in all of our three forest types (Mangrove, Dry deciduous sal forest, Moist semi-evergreen) but very few people were fortunate to see them in the wild for their solitary nature of activity. As light was falling fast along with the vesper call of longtail nightjar and scops owl, I was waiting for return of some of our team members who were on a exploring trip to the Tipra village to the tranquillity and solitude of the rest house.
Story: Khasru Chowdhury Photo: Inam Ahamed Bird watching with Dr Ali Reza Khan Red-wattled Lapwing Vanellus indicus One of the most popular large waders of our countryside. The Bengali name Hot-ti-ti has come from its strident hot-ti-ti, pity-to-do-it, pity-do-it, etc., calls. If a pair is present in an area all the neighbourhood would know of its presence from its call alone. Its loud crescendo calls at different hours of the night break the peace and tranquil of countryside. A black, brown and white bird with reddish bill tipped black, red wattle and eye ring, and yellow legs are conspicuous. Like other plovers it can also perform "injury feigning display" to distract the predators from its nest or chicks. This behaviour is prevalent in most species of waders such as plovers, sandpipers, stints, dunlins, etc. The nest, eggs and chicks are usually well-concealed. It is always present near water and builds nest on the ground. The chicks are well- camouflaged (as shown in the picture). It feeds on small animals of all kinds, including chicks of other birds and snakes. Picture- Tentulia. © thedailystar.net 2006 |
