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And all these are just the beginnings of splendors of beautiful Bangladesh as the country is blessed with many more attractive places, spots and attractions rich with archeological and historic values.
Some of those are Kantajir Mandir (a revered temple) and Ramsagor (a big water body) in northern Dinajpur district, Sonargaon – the ancient capital of Bengal with many decaying architectural marvels, including Panam Nagar, Zamindar Baris in Gazipur including the Bhawal Raj Bari, Mohastan Garh (ancient capital of Pundra of Bengal) in Bogra, Paharpur (ancient Buddhist Monastery) of northern Naogaon district, Rani Bhabani’s Palace in Natore, Chittagong Hill Tracts full of serene natural beauties and hilly resorts and lakes including Kaptai Lake – a marvel of nature and manmade beauties, Sylhet Harzat Shahjalal and Shahparan’s Shrine, tea gardens in Srimongol and eco resorts and cottages there, Shrine of Shahmakhdum in Rajshahi, Jamuna resort in Kalihati Tangail, Tajhat Zamindar Bari and Bamondanga Zamindar Bari in Rangpur, Shilaidaha Kuthibari of Rabindranath Tagore in Shahjadpur, Sirajganj, Chalan Beel – a huge natural water body spreads across three districts Natore, Sirajganj and Pabna, Zamindar Shashikanta’s palace and many other Zamindar Baris in Mymensingh and Brahmaputra riverside, Garo Hills areas in Sherpur, Hazral Khanzahan Ali’s Shrine in Bagerhat, Tentulia border areas in Panchagarh district from where you one can have a glimpse of the Himalayas and many more sites and places of archeological values.
And for attracting global tourists, the Bangladesh government needs to take few steps for ensuring safety, security and tourist-friendly policies and guidelines for ensuring a pleasant stay with all the luxuries in tourist resorts setting aside the old and conservative mindset.
The most attractive and revered tourist attraction is the Sundarbans, the single largest chunk of productive mangrove forest in the world which still exists with roaring tigers to greet the globe-trotters. The Sundarbans is named after its most attractive Sundari trees. The Sundarbans is full of natural resources – the most beautiful and thick forests, plenty of fisheries, and blissful wildlife and many other features of water resources. The forest of Sundarbans is always mysterious to its many time visitors even as it changes its color and splendours with seasons and also with the changing positions of the moon. It holds hundreds of mysteries of nature for its lovers, scientists, researchers and eco-tourists too.
The UNESCO has declared the Sundarbans as a world heritage site in 1999 and has taken different protective measures for preserving its mangrove forests and its natural habitats for the severely endangered Royal Bengal Tigers, the big cats that still roam around and roar around in the Sundarbans divided in between Bangladesh and India’s West Bengal state. But Bangladesh owns two thirds of the Sundarbans and the rest by West Bengal.
The Sundarbans of Bangladesh part still provides shelters to around 460 Bengal Tigers in its dense mangrove forests. It is still one of the largest reserves for the Bengal Tigers that roam around with thunderous roar to attract the globe-totters to have an encounter with the rarest species of Tigers and hold the breath as a lifetime experience to be shared later to grand children in later part of life. There are three wildlife sanctuaries in the Sundarbans forest “Kotka-Kochikhaki” (east), “Hironpiont” (south) and “Manderbaria” (west) which holds hundreds of species of fishes, animals and reptiles along with its most famous Bengal Tigers.The Sundarbans is still home to around 330 plant species, 35 species of reptiles, 400 types of fishes, 270 species of birds and 42 species of mammals. Dublar char and many other chars around the Sundarbans with deer breeding grounds could help tourists enjoy all the cool of life far from the madding crowd.
The country’s most unique and pride possession is the world’s longest naturally sloping, sandy and shiny beach in Cox’s Bazar. The beach is around 125 kilometres long which has natural sloping. One can drive through the whole long beach from Cox’s Bazar to Teknaf and enjoy the serenity of seashore beauty enjoying such a beautiful journey on Earth and return to their splashy posh hotels back after a day’s drive through such a beautiful shoreline.
The Cox’s Bazar sea beach has all the global splendors of beauty and blessings of nature to greet the globe-totters. And the tourists could enjoy all the spelendours of a sea beach funs like sunbath on sandy beach and surfing with huge waves in the Bay.
Other than Cox’s Bazar sea beach, Bangladesh’s southern Patuakhali district possesses another beautiful beach which is another God gifted and only place on Earth from where one can watch both the sunrise and sunset from a single beach. In most of the world famous sea beaches one can either see the sunrise or sunset from those beaches, but Kuakata sea beach is the only exception from where tourists can enjoy both the wonderful natural beauty of the sun rise and setting sun into the horizon of the Bay of Bengal.
The Cox’s Bazar’s other attractions are trips to Moheshkhali, Sonadia Dwips and Bangladesh’s only coral islands the St Martins Islands – the tip on the Bay of Bengal and most beautiful place on Earth in the middle of sea. Another attraction is Dulahazara saffari park. It is a natural sanctuary of many exotic birds and many species of animals and reptiles living on swampy lands in their natural abode in a large protected area.
Basanta, the king of nature, is widely celebrated throughout every nook and corner of the country with funfair and gaiety. Just a day after Valentines’ day, the festival of love revered across the world, Rituraj Basanta is celebrated in Bangladesh with riot of colors on all streets of capital and major cities and all university and college campuses.
In Basanta, flowers of different colours and fragrances bloom all around making people love-sick and looking for love. To celebrate the great season that brings new leaf to all the trees and blooming numerous flowers, Dhaka University’s faculty of fine arts celebrate Basanta Utsav at its Bakultal premises every year with presentation of songs and colourful dances, which is participated by tens of thousands of people. The programe is aired live from the spot by different TV channels.
Just by cashing in on the six distinctive seasons and global craze for eco-tourism, Bangladesh could bring in millions of eco-tourists highlighting its unique natural possessions in the age of information technology by positive branding of Bangladesh in the global village.
The Himalayan cold breeze brings in winter in Bangladesh, though the winter here is not as chilly as that of the West. Still bone-chilling cold bring in many winter delights, specially many leafy vegetables and specially different forms of winter cakes that were made in rural villages just after settling down to rejoice the good harvest. Now the capital and other metropolitan cities during winter organize Pitha Utsab (cake festivals) along with rural villages going by the age-old traditions. Moreover, people enjoy Jatra both in rural villages and also in small towns.
The guest birds flock to swamps, rivers and natural lakes (beels, haours like Chalan Beel, Tanguar Haor, Jahangirnagar University swamps) and big water bodies crossing thousands of miles from cold zones to relatively warm places in Bangladesh. Chirping of tens of thousands of guest birds makes those places heavenly with serene beauty of Bangladesh in winter days. Hundreds of species of winter birds from many continents visit Bangladesh for few months each year having congenial atmosphere and natural hospitality as well with adequate natural foods and fishes in those water bodies creating a rare scope to bird watchers to have glimpse of so many birds.
In Hemanto, the gentle breeze start blowing and make people busy with harvesting their crops of hard labour and the whole rural Bangladesh bursts into harvest festivals with smiles all around heralding the start of celebrations and gaiety with good harvest. And the natural gentle breeze spreads the scent of new paddy all around driving away penury of even the hardcore poor people’s life, at least for a while.
The rural Bangladesh then gets busy with processing paddy and store those for a better price, though most farmers are forced to sell their crops just after harvest and repay the loans they took for procuring farm outputs earlier. But after repaying the loans rural Bangladesh gets busy with celebrations of harvest feast and festivals all around organizing Pala Gaan, Kobial gaans, Putul Naach, Jatra and traditional dance fests (Folk song and dance festivals) making rural life real colorful and full of fun.
In Sharat (Autumn), astronomers and star-gazers can explore the beauty of limitless sky and the enormous space with even bare eyes as the sky remains all clear with bluish blush and white patch of serene clouds making fun all the timer hovering all around.
And at night, thousands of stars and celestial beauties of the universe and milky ways could be enjoyed without any hindrance with bare eyes and all those would inspire anybody to explore the space with telescopes and space observatories. Kite festivals were also organized on the shoals of Padma and other places when kites of different colours and sizes make the sky full of fun spreading the message of peace and the urge of festivities.
Then comes the rainy reason for refreshing the nature with its healing power of rain drops to make the trees leafy with fresh leaves. The rainy season is greeted by students of Fine Arts faculty of Dhaka University for many years with Borsha Boran festival with participation of innumerous people bored with dog-tiring mechanical life of the capital to refresh their lives with a dose of funfair. The gloomy season of nature sheds tears and makes people search for spirituality in the serene beauty of Bangladesh when nature sings its rainy songs ceaselessly washing away all the dirty things of life and livings.
Bangladesh is also a land of rivers criss-crossed by 56 trans-boundary rivers and their hundreds of tributaries. During rainy seasons people can enjoy the serenity of nature by going on boat trip on mighty rivers full of waters to their brims and enjoy fishing.
Responding to the urge of eco tourism, different private sectors of beaming Bangladesh in recent days have developed several eco-tourism spots and resorts in the country’s Sylhet tea garden areas, Sonargao – the ancient capital of Bengal, Jamuna resort on the bank of mighty Jamuna, Padma resorts and many more spots in the midst of natural beauties and surroundings. Spending just a few days in those resorts during the rainy season, one could really go spiritual and feel the essence of life and the beautiful creation of earth by the Almighty.
Bangladesh is the lone country in the world which has quite distinctive six seasons – Summer, rainy season, autumn, late autumn, winter and spring- the king of all seasons (Grishma, Barsha, Sharat, Hemanta, Shit and Bashanta).
All these six seasons could be quite distinctively felt and differentiated in Bangladesh which were celebrated by people of this South Asian country through various cultural, traditional and social programmes for ages to make life meaningful, enjoyable with this bounty of nature.
Summer is celebrated with ‘fruit festival’ by the people of this country as the seasons brings with it numerous summer delights – Jackfruits, watermelons, litchis, melons, pineapples, mangoes and many more mouthwatering fruits which are not just tasty and full of nutrients, but also rich in medicinal food values necessary for boosting human beings’ immune system.
Summer is also celebrated with traditional village fairs, picnics, Jatra, Palagaan, Kobigaan and many other festivities of folk art and culture of natural roots which are part of our rich heritage and tradition.
The mother nature has given Bangladesh many of its unique gifts quite bountifully and few of the those are: Bangladesh is the only country in the world having six distinctive seasons, it owns the world’s longest natural sea beach, the globe’s largest mangrove forest and also the world’s most exciting seashore on earth from where one can see both sunrise and sunset.
Having all such exciting places on earth in one country --Bangladesh should have been the tourist Mecca of the world. But in reality it is not, only due to lack of the country’s positive branding in the era of information technology when the whole world is in one’s fingertips.
Lack of positive campaign necessary for the country branding and also lack of awareness too about what ‘unique resources we have’ among the general people and also the people in power and policymakers kept the country known as land of disasters, poverty and fire tragedies in its factories.
The people in power and the government machinery blamed for the negative branding across the world and the country image could still easily be changed through meticulous campaign planning using the all powerful information tools –Internet and information and communication technology and also online media. And the positive campaign and country branding should be launched immediately as still the negative headlines like garments factory disasters and factory fire incidents are ravaging the country image. But against the backdrop of Rana Plaza disaster and media focus on Bangladesh, the campaign for country branding efforts could help change the image of Bangladesh as the most industrious nation where women empowerment is visible everywhere as the country is virtually ruled by the womenfolk and it is the most progressive nation in South Asia region despite its majority Muslim populace.
Now the people in power must have to care much about propagating those things for positive country branding of Bangladesh to bring globetrotters to explore the big bowl of Eco-tourism thriving with all its resources, tradition and rich cultural heritage and hospitality as well to greet global tourists with open arms.
