For the first time, I tried hiking in a wildlife sanctuary in Bangladesh

On the last day in Cox’s Bazar, I decided to go hiking in Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary, which was completely an attempt, as there is almost no infrastructure for outdoor sports in Bangladesh. Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary is located between Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar, right by the highway, about 70 kilometers from Cox’s Bazar. To get there, one needs to take a bus from the main bus station to Chunati, but these buses are almost never on time, and it took at least two hours to arrive. Although Bangladesh hardly has any infrastructure for outdoor sports, I surprisingly found a small group of hiking enthusiasts online. There is also an NGO called Nishorgo, which mainly promotes environmental protection and ecotourism. Their official website has detailed information and hiking routes for most national parks (NP) and wildlife sanctuaries (WS) in Bangladesh. After their inspection and verification, they usually open up three types of trails in an NP or WS: a Short Trail of about half an hour, a Medium Trail of about an hour, and a Long Trail of about three hours. Following Nishorgo's trail map, I chose a Medium Trail. The starting point of the hike is next to a yellow and black sign by the highway, and the endpoint is about 20 meters north of the starting point, also by the highway. Nishorgo has erected a huge gate there with the word “Welcome” in English, and there are also three Bengali map signs and introductions next to it, which should also be the endpoint of the Long Trail. On the bus, make sure to look out for the sign at the endpoint, get off when you see it, and then walk back south about 20 meters to a yellow and black sign with incomprehensible Bengali writing, where there is a gap to enter the mountain. Since I chose a one-hour route that is only 2.5KM and I have some hiking experience in my own country, I was a bit careless. After entering through the gap, I immediately entered the woods. The path is a narrow mud trail about half a meter wide, but it was very dry at the beginning and not difficult to walk. After about 5-10 minutes, you will see a small plantation of betel leaves. After that, the road becomes muddy and sinks, mainly due to the water left on the mountain during the rainy season. In short, it's easy to sink your whole foot in. This section of just over three hundred meters took at least half an hour, but after that, the soft sandy ground was much easier to walk on. It is said that there are Asian elephants living in Chunati WS, but I only saw some small animals like tree lizards. The road to the mountaintop lookout tower was completely covered by vegetation, and the lookout tower that was finally reached was actually abandoned. The location of this lookout tower is at the midpoint of the entire route, and the vegetation behind it is too lush. Although I successfully reached the endpoint, it was really quite panic-inducing. Especially since I underestimated the distance of 2.5KM, because the place is very humid and hot, and the water consumption is high. It's better not to hike in such a country, firstly because there is not enough information; secondly, the language barrier makes it impossible to communicate with locals; and lastly, the vegetation is too dense and there are too many snakes and insects. It was purely an attempt, and I feel it was not worth it at all. On the way back to Cox’s Bazar, I passed a place called Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park, Dulahazara, which is actually a zoo. The conditions for the animals here are a bit better than those in Dhaka Zoo, with much more space. It would take about 3 hours to walk through the entire park slowly.