A Journey to The Wild

 Personal experience

July 24| Written by Jafrin Zakaria

Just about the time , during the 2nd week of December 22 when I had only a few more exams

remaining to finish my HSC examination once-and-for-all and meanwhile I could care less about

how well or devastating my exams are going. Instead , I'd be manifesting how peaceful it will be

for me to be sleeping all day long while am

mu has nothing to nag about and last but not the

least go out on an exhilarating and refreshing vacation .

Usually , most of my long trips and vacations are always with family.

Finally , I sat for the very last exam and came out of the exam hall yawning and stretching my

arms ready to retire to bed just after I reach home . But I was very surprised to see ammu , who

came to pick me up like every other days but this time with two big luggages filled with both of

our clothes stued for a very long journey . Just before i could make a bombardment of questions

about the destination we are heading and rigorously urging her to let me go home to sleep , she

came up with a serious tone to accompany her on a flight to Chittagong to receive my grandma .

So my journey to the next upcoming ,undefined destinations began.

Likewise , I really enjoyed the 45 minutes flight to chattogram surfing through the puy clouds

which seemed to be touching the mountains of chattogram . At sharp 7;00 pm our plane landed

and as we checked out of the airport with our luggage , i saw grandma waiting just outside in a

car bound for the train station which I was clearly unaware of .

To my surprise , the next morning I woke up to a free ticket covering a three day tour to THE

SUNDARBANS of Bangladesh which I couldn't possibly have ever imagined that it could be

explored like a very normal tourist spot

By this time , my body and soul almost couldn’t afford to make any more journeys but

regardless, the destination kept my motivation to set on for my next stop to Khulna by train

.Starting from the “pakshi” station to the very old and famous “Hurding Bride” which stretches

long over the Padma river .

“PAKSHI STATION”

“HURDING BRIDGE”

Finally , it was again midnight when I reached Khulna , and our guide took us to a dock yard

where we took a small journey by a boat to the ship anchored at a distance away from the yard ,

and the journey into the forest began .

Setting sail from Khulna , the journey begins along the Rupsha river which had a bustling

riverside community of big factories , ware house for containers and also some local residential

buildings. Most of the trees in sundarban had its roots plunged upside down into the water ,

which has a scientific reason , that is - the water in the sundarban is very salty and inorder to

make gaseous exchange the leaves aren’t sucient enough and are supported by this root

system .

The leaves had a very brilliant green colour which was very clear from any dirt or dust , unlike

the trees in cities . Although I am not good with recalling the names of the many different trees i

saw but amongst the few I remember is the “sundari gach” which is very common and

widespread in the sundarbans.

The waters in the canals were tranquil and full of potentially dangerous creatures like snakes

and crocodiles . It is said that their existence in the waters are paramount to balance to cycle of

nature - as they drive fear in fishermen to not continue overfishing and thereby disrupt the food

chain of these animals

Speaking of the types of animal living in sundarban is incomplete without its lethal yet most

important and famous creature - THE ROYAL BENGAL TIGER .

It is known to be the monarch of the mangroves which commands a powerful presence in

sundarban. Although I did not get to see one and never wish to be seen by one, encountering a

tiger in the Sundarbans is very rare and wouldn’t be much of an amusing experience.

Finally, as the ship returns to Khulna , the memories of the journey lingers with me like a dream

leaving behind the experience of the wondrous beauty of the sundarbans , and indeed the most

tiring and long yet the best vacation I ever went on .