This wonderful patch of tropical semi-evergreen forest, around 8km east of Srimangal, provides not only some lovely forest walks but also your best chance of seeing the endangered hoolock gibbons in the wild. These are the only apes found in Bangladesh and there are only around 200 left in the country, 60 of which make their home here.
Protected as part of the government-run Nishorgo Network (www.nishorgo.org), the park now has visitor walking trails as well as eco-guides (albeit at the prohibitively high rate of Tk 300 per hour!). If he’s around, Tapas Dash (01723 292994) comes recommended as a guide.
As well as the hoolocks, a further 19 mammal species have been identified here including capped langur, macaques, the delightful slow loris, orange-bellied Himalayan squirrel and barking deer. There are also some 246 bird species and 20 varieties of orchid.
Remember this is dense forest so chances are you’ll get nothing more than a fleeting glimpse of anything. One thing you won’t miss, though, are the enormous orb spiders; black, red and yellow monsters that hang from Spiderman-sized webs between trees but are, we are told, completely harmless.
There are three walking trails (30 minutes, one hour and three hours), with maps on wooden signboards marking the way. A guide, though, will be able to take you off-piste without getting lost. There’s a tea-and-snack stall by the visitor centre.
You can get here from Srimangal by bus (Tk 10), CNG (Tk 100) or bicycle (about 45 minutes; ride straight along the Srimangal-Bhanugach Rd). You could even jump off a moving train from Sylhet as they pass right through the park! (Don’t actually do that.)
Note there are two gates to the park. The first one you reach as you come from Srimangal is on the right-hand side of the road and had only just opened at the time of research. A visitor centre and walking trails were being planned, but had yet to be constructed. The main gate is about 2km beyond this (on the left-hand side of the road). Both are well marked. The same park fees apply at both gates.
