Botanical Garden and Eco-Park at Sitakunda

In his autobiography, Jakhan Chhoto Chhilam (when I was young), the late Satyajit Ray recorded an incident of his life. As a child he was taken to Tagore at Jorashanko's Thakoor Bari. He was carrying a notebook with him. When he offered this to Tagore for an autograph, the latter turned to a page and instantly wrote a poem there and signed his name. That poem happens to be the one in which Tagore exclaims that he has gone out to see many distant countries, many mountains and seas, but has not opened his eyes to see the lonely drop of dew on a lonely sheaf of rice-paddy just two steps beyond his dooryard. The summary, of course, is an apology to this great poem, but what Tagore has rued in this poem reflects the way we tend to ignore the beauty near at hand.

Yet then, Chittagong's natural beauty is anything but ignorable. And the Botanical Garden and the Eco-Park at Sitakunda, which started functioning as a tourist resort from 1999 under the Forest Department, is going to become a popular haunt for the nature lovers.

In 1871 Chittagong Forest Division was established. In 1901, by a Kolkata Gazette Notification, the Southern Sitakunda Reserve Forest was formed consisting of 23040 acres of land. Presently, the Park is built and organised up on the road that finally leads to the famous Chandranath Temple at 1400 feet of the Chandranath Hill. Sitakunda is a great hill range and the green hills are providing a sanctuary to the plant and the wild lives available here and the idea of creating an eco-friendly habitat was struck upon rather timely. The Botanical Garden and the Eco-Park cover an area of 2000 acres of land of which the former covers 1000 acres. The development cost for the total project is estimated at Tk 3.6 crore. The Park is supposed to be completed by the end of next year.

About 35 km or 40 minutes' journey from Chittagong, the main gate to the Park is about 200 meters on the right off the Dhaka-Chittagong highway. There is a gate fee of Tk 10 per person or Tk 100 for a group. From here a narrow but regular road winds upward into the engulfing hills. Down the valley one can see golden (Sonali flower) and white (Kashful flowers) seasonal flowers displaying their ethereal beauty in the sunshine. Cars and microbuses, jeeps and pick-ups ply upward, including some daredevil rickshaw vans, but people mostly prefer to negotiate the climb on foot, so the road is always full of pedestrians -- men, women and children. The walking may prove to be arduous, because the picnic spots in the form of temple-shaped concrete sheds do not start until an hour's very laborious hiking is completed. There are about ten to twelve sheds spread over surrounding hilltops, with scant toilet and water facilities. The picnic paraphernalia, including food and water, should better be borne up by transport.

The last picnic shed is on a peak about 1000 feet high from which the Sandwip Channel can be seen covered under heavy wintry mist. On the far horizon the coastal trees of Sandwip look like a dark patch floating on the water. On the right from the mount a path descends sharply into the valley where the stream known as Sahasradhara (a thousand streams) falls from a height of thousand feet. The path leading to the fall is built of concrete stairs half the way and the rest is built of a cascade of mud steps. People, mainly young men, venture to climb down the mud steps for a dip into the water, but when they climb back to the shed above, their huffing and puffing tell you that even for them the climb is too steep. But who cares, even couples in their fifties cannot resist the temptation of going down close to the fall for some memorable snapshots.

The Chandranath Shib Temple, however, is still far away, about three kilometers away on another peak, which is the highest in this range. In spring, that is, in Falgun, when the yearly fair takes place thousands of devotees make their pilgrimage to this temple, which can be climbed by a flight of two hundred and fifty steps from the hill road or sixteen hundred steps from the ground below. The Vaishnab singers and dancers congregate here for piety and worshipping.

The Hindu myth about the temple is that it was created to mark the spot on which one of goddess Sita's many severed parts (her right ankle) had fallen. In another section of the park is located another fall, namely Suptadhara (the sleeping stream), which can be reached by a detour. On the northern side can be seen hills after hills waving toward Hathazari and Fatikchari, and finally to Tripura and Myanmar.

Sitakunda Eco-Park is the first of its kind in Bangladesh, and the primary objective behind its founding was to grow and protect a genetic pool of plant life of various breeds. Producing various species of bamboo and cane is found easier here. In the Botanical Garden, hundreds of herbal and medicinal plants are nurtured. Providing an eco-friendly habitat for the wildlife and creating a healthy tourist resort are its priorities too.

Of the flowers kept in the nursery may be seen various types of indigenous and foreign flowers and fruits. Some native plants that can be identified are joytun, nagalingam, banshpata, tamal, peduk, tezpata, etc.

Of the trees preserved here the identifiable ones are garjan, dharamara, dheua, halud, gutgutia, bohera, jarul, palash, dumur, sonalu, shimul, kanchan, chapalish, bura, haritaki, amloki, and haimanti.

Of the wildlife one can see deer of various species, monkey, hanuman, bear, hare, and among the birds, parrot, crow, finch, owl, etc.

It is also claimed that the Royal Bengal Tiger was once found here.

The Botanical Garden and the Eco-Park at Sitakunda should be developed and modernised to be a part of the world environmental programmes.