In Bangladesh, there are lots of natural wonders, like world’s longest sea beach at Cox’s Bazar, the Sundarban mangrove forests, Khoiyachora waterfall, Sajek valley and so on.

The Archaeology Adventure Club (AAC) of Comilla University recently arranged a tour to Sylhet, one of the most beautiful regions of Bangladesh. Located in the northeast, there you will find endless tea plantations and many places of natural beauty, like Hakaluki haor, Jaflong waterfall, Ratargul swamp forest, Bichanakandi scenic area,   and Lawachara national park.

To start our journey, we went to Cumilla railway station at midnight to board the Paharika Express for Sylhet. After five hours, we reached Sylhet in the morning. The fresh air and the environment removed our tiredness. We had breakfast near the station and began our trip to see the nature.

We rented a vehicle, locally called ‘leguna’, for the whole day. Our first visit was to Ratargul swamp forest, known as the ‘Amazon of Bangladesh’. Our leguna took us to Goain Ghat, from where we rented a boat and started to explore the most wonderful beauty of nature.

Ratargul is the only swamp forest in Bangladesh. Really, it was a fantastic experience to see trees ‘diving’ into the crystal water and the Mizoram hills on the Indian side.

Then, we left for our next destination, Bichanakandi. We had lunch on the roadside and went to Hader Par Bazar. We hired a boat there and after about 45 minutes, we reached Bichanakandi.

It is a wonderful place on the Bangladesh-India border. There is a beautiful waterfall, clean fresh water and small rocks coming from the cloudy mountains. The natural views were marvelous and astonishing.

We then visited the mazars (shrines) of Shah Poran and Shah Jalal in Sylhet. Our mission accomplished, we finally went to Sylhet railway station at 9pm to return to Cumilla.

I have visited many places in Bangladesh, but this trip was memorable for me because of the most incredible and magnificent nature.

The writer is a student of Department of Archaeology, Comilla University.

Photos: Masud Abdullah.