Ratargul Swamp Forest (), is a

freshwater swamp forest Freshwater swamp forests, or flooded forests, are forests which are inundated with freshwater, either permanently or seasonally. They normally occur along the lower reaches of rivers and around freshwater lakes. Freshwater swamp forests are foun ...

located in Gowain River, Fatehpur Union,

Gowainghat Gowainghat () is an upazila of Sylhet District in the Division of Sylhet, Bangladesh. History The British Empire conquered the Jaintia Kingdom on 25 March 1835, finally incorporating Gowainghat in its Sylhet District Collectorate. In 1908, the Go ...

Sylhet Sylhet (; ) is a Metropolis, metropolitan city in the north eastern region of Bangladesh. It serves as the administrative center for both the Sylhet District and the Sylhet Division. The city is situated on the banks of the Surma River and, as o ...

, Bangladesh. Ratargul was once thought to be the only swamp forest in Bangladesh, and one of the few freshwater swamp forests in the world. Later, more swamp forests namely Jugirkandi Mayabon, Bujir Bon and Lokkhi Baor swamp forest were discovered in Bangladesh. Its area is including declared as the animal sanctuary in 2015. It is known as the Sundarbans of Sylhet. This is second largest swamp forest in Bangladesh, located from

. The evergreen forest is situated by the river ''Goain'' and linked with the channel ''Chengir Khal''. Most of the trees growing here are the ''Dalbergia reniformis'' (করচ গাছ ''Koroch tree''). The forest is submerged under of water in the rainy season. For the rest of the year, the water level is about deep.

Location

Ratargul is about 26 kilometres from

. There is a 3,325 acres wetland in Sylhet range-2 under the forest department and in that wetland Ratargul swamp forest is about 504 acres It is located in

. After reaching Gowainghat, tourists reserve a local engine boat namely "traller" to reach the forest. There are two

haor A () is a wetland ecosystem in the north eastern part of Bangladesh which physically is a bowl or saucer shaped shallow Depression (geology), depression, also known as a backswamp.MK Alam; ''Wave attack in Haor areas of Bangladesh and cement co ...

s, ''Shimul Bil haor'' and ''Neoa Bil Haor'', in the south part of the forest.
Swamp Forest Ratargul
', Istiak Hasan; spotlight, Daily Kaler Kantho; Publish date: 28 August 2011. Access date: 13 October 2015.

Climate

Tropical air from the northwest of Sylhet causes heavy rainfall. According to Sylhet Weather Centre, average annual rainfall is . July hosts the most rainfall, with measures averaging . December is the driest season with 74%

relative density Relative density, also called specific gravity, is a dimensionless quantity defined as the ratio of the density (mass of a unit volume) of a substance to the density of a given reference material. Specific gravity for solids and liquids is nea ...

, compared to more than 90% in July and August. The forest is linked with the Gowain River through the lake Chengir Khal. During the rainy season, water from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

overflows into the lake from the Gowain River and the forest becomes flooded. This continues through the wet season from May to early October. During this time of the year, the average high temperature hits , and in January, the coolest month, the average high sits around . During the rainy season, the trees of the swamp submerge about and in some cases up to under water, but the forest emerges during the dry season.Ratargul Swamp Forest climate
/ref>

Plant diversity

73 species of plants could be found in the forest till now. 80 percent of the forest area is covered with umbrella of the trees. Two layers of plants can be seen in the swamp forest. The upper layer consists of trees and the lower one consists of intense

Schumannianthus dichotomus ''Schumannianthus dichotomus'', also known as 'cool mat', is a species of flowering plant first described by William Roxburgh, Roxburgh, with its current name after François Gagnepain, Gagnepain. The species belongs to the family Marantaceae and ...

. The forest canopy reaches up to tall. Though the forest is natural, the Forestry Department of Bangladesh has planted some watery plants like '' Calamus tenuis'', ''

Neolamarckia cadamba ''Neolamarckia cadamba'', with English common names burflower-tree, laran, and Leichhardt pine, and called kadamba or kadam or cadamba locally, is an evergreen, tropical tree native to South and Southeast Asia. The genus name honours French natu ...

'', ''Barringtonia acutangula''.

Banyan Tree A banyan, also spelled banian ( ), is a Ficus, fig that develops accessory trunks from Aerial root#"Stranglers" (prop-root), adjacent prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees ...

is very common in the forest. Besides that, ''Barringtonia acutangula'', ''Dalbergia reniformis'', ''

Crateva religiosa ''Crateva religiosa'', the sacred garlic pear or temple plant, is a species of flowering tree. It is a member of the capers family. The tree is sometimes called the spider tree because the showy flowers bear long, spidery stamens. It is native ...

'' or ''

Hygrophila (plant) ', commonly known as swampweeds, is a genus of flowering plants in the acanthus family, Acanthaceae. There are about 80 Alstonia scholaris ''Alstonia scholaris'', commonly called blackboard tree, scholar tree, milkwood or devil's tree in English, is an evergreen tree in the oleander and frangipani family Apocynaceae. Its natural range is from Pakistan to China, and south to northe ...

'' can also be seen.

Animal diversity

Snakes and worm snakes can widely be seen in this water-drowned forest.

Mongoose A mongoose is a small terrestrial carnivorous mammal belonging to the family Herpestidae. This family has two subfamilies, the Herpestinae and the Mungotinae. The Herpestinae comprises 23 living species that are native to southern Europe, A ...

can be seen in dry season.

Monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

s and

water monitor The Asian water monitor (''Varanus salvator'') is a large varanid lizard native to South and Southeast Asia. It is widely considered to be the second-largest lizard species, after the Komodo dragon. It is distributed from eastern and northeaste ...

s also reside here.

heron Herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 75 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genus ''Botaurus'' are referred to as bi ...

egret Egrets ( ) are herons, generally long-legged wading birds, that have white or buff plumage, developing fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season. Egrets are not a biologically distinct group from herons and have the same build ...

kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species living in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

s, parrot,

bulbul The bulbuls are members of a family, Pycnonotidae, of medium-sized passerine songbirds, which also includes greenbuls, brownbuls, leafloves, and bristlebills. The family is distributed across most of Africa and into the Middle East, tropic ...

swan Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology) ...

dove Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

water fowl The Anatidae are the biological family of water birds that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted for swimming, floating o ...

Eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

s and

kites A kite is a tethered heavier than air flight, heavier-than-air craft with wing surfaces that react against the air to create Lift (force), lift and Drag (physics), drag forces. A kite consists of wings, tethers and anchors. Kites often have ...

are some of the birds of the swamp forest.

Cotton pygmy goose The cotton pygmy goose or cotton teal (''Nettapus coromandelianus'') is a small perching duck which breeds in Asia, Southeast Asia extending south and east to Queensland where they are sometimes called white-quilled pygmy goose. They are among t ...

and other

migratory birds Bird migration is a seasonal movement of birds between breeding and wintering grounds that occurs twice a year. It is typically from north to south or from south to north. Migration is inherently risky, due to predation and mortality. The ...

and

vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to Nort ...

s visit the forest in winter. The local names of fish present here are

Batasio ''Batasio'' is a genus of catfish of the family Bagridae. These small fish are found in fast-flowing hillstreams throughout South and mainland Southeast Asia. Taxonomy ''Batasio'' was first described by Edward Blyth in 1860 with ''Batasio buchan ...

, Rita,

Ompok ''Ompok'' is a genus of fish in the family (biology), family Siluridae found in lakes and large rivers throughout South Asia, South and Southeast Asia. Taxonomy The genus is recognized to be paraphyly, paraphyletic. The species of ''Ompok'' have ...

, Rohu etc.

Tourists attraction

Tourists mostly go to see the forest during the

monsoon season The wet season (sometimes called the rainy season or monsoon season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Generally, the season lasts at least one month. The term ''green season'' is also sometimes used a ...

. One needs to obtain permission from the forest office in order to visit the forest. A local boat also needs to be hired to travel through the swamp forest. There is a watchtower inside the forest where you can overlook the whole forest from above.

Gallery

Ratargul-02.jpg, Children in a boat on the Shari-Goyain River in Ratargul Swamp Forest Beautiful bangladesh Raatargul 6.jpg Dusk,time to return home.jpg Jointa haor.jpg

References

External links

* {{Sylhet District Forests of Bangladesh Wetlands of Bangladesh Swamps of Asia Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Lower Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests