Shatchori

In all my travels I never experienced anything like this. One moment I was walking fine, the next moment my entire left leg and half my thigh had sunk into the mud. It was only by shifting my entire weight on the other foot that I stopped my plunge. I had been walking on the bed of the stream called chhora in Shatchori National Park, taking pictures along the way. The stream was a bare trickle and the sandy ground, though wet, was firm. My guide Haris, who has brought hundreds of visitors here, had asked me to follow his footsteps. He knew the terrain.But I had veered off a little to compose a photograph and here I was, about to be swallowed by the earth.My first thought was “quicksand” and I froze. Haris turned around,  startled. I asked him to hold out the umbrella in his hand so I could grab it and pull myself out. Instead, he    reassured me and offered his hand. Gripping it, I got out of the hole. The rest of the walk was event-free.Shatchori national park, comprising 243 hectares in Habiganj, is only three hours (130 km) from Dhaka. You head towards Sylhet and turn right towardsChunarughat at a roundabout. The park has three walking trails: a  half-hour trail, a one-hour trail and a three-hour trail. I had chosen the three-hour trail.It had drizzled all morning. When I started walking, I realized my umbrella was awkward because it caught on every twig and branch that stuck out into the trail. But it was better than a raincoat because it provided protection for my camera.Off the trail, shooting skyward from the low-growth jungle, were large, tall trees. The trees were not as dense as they were in Lawacherra National Park – apparently many had been cut down in recent years. There were chapalish, dumur, banyan, and variations of jolpai.Chapalish belongs to the jackfruit family, and may be mistaken for a jackfruit tree from afar. Its fruit is the cham kathal which looks like a      miniature jackfruit with smaller cloves that are sour instead of sweet. Some banyans supported fat creepers which spiralled around their trunk.The park also has wildlife: capped langur, hoolock gibbon, fishing cat, wild boar and barking deer. I saw the langurs only; they were friendly and allowed me close. Hoolock gibbons can be tracked following their loud calls, but today, because of the rain, they were quiet. There were numerous insects, including the giant, colourful wood spiders. The park also has many birds including hornbills and trogons. Most birds are high up in the canopy and difficult to photograph. There were, surprisingly, no leeches.While walking and observing the surroundings, I tried to imagine what this forest would have been like in its pristine form. Paradise lost, indeed.My guide was the second I have used from the Nishorgo program, which trains guides to accompany visitors to the national parks of Bangladesh. These guides,           knowledgeable and competent, can make a big difference when one is exploring remote but beautiful places like Shatchori that can hide many dangers