Wildlife and national park, Bagerhat
Karamjalকরমজল
- Time needed
- Two to three hours including the boat.
- best months
- Nov–Mar
- Cost
- Entry about ৳46 for Bangladeshis and ৳575 for foreigners with VAT, children under 12 half; an engine boat for about ten people from Mongla ghat ৳1,000–1,500 return.
The forest department's gateway to the Sundarbans, an hour by boat from Mongla: a crocodile breeding centre, deer, monkeys, a wooden trail through the mangroves and a watchtower.
Plan your visit
- Opening
- Daylight hours; boats go from Mongla ghat from early morning.
- Best time
- Early morning, at low tide, before the day-trippers; November to March.
At a glance
- Run by
- Bangladesh Forest Department
- Area
- About 30 hectares
- Permit
- None needed; pay at the gate
- Closed
- June to August with the rest of the forest
About
If you have one day for the Sundarbans, this is it. Karamjal is a 30-hectare station on the east bank of the Pasur, eight kilometres below Mongla, where the Forest Department breeds saltwater crocodiles and keeps a few spotted deer in enclosures, and where a raised wooden walkway lets you go into the mangroves without a guard or a permit. The monkey trail winds for about half a kilometre under sundari and gewa trees over mud that breathes at low tide; rhesus macaques follow you along the rails. A second boardwalk leads west to the breeding ponds and a watchtower, from which the forest canopy runs flat to the horizon.
You will not see a tiger here, and the deer are behind wire. What you get is the smell and sound of the forest, the crocodiles at close quarters, kingfishers and mudskippers, and the sense of standing on the edge of something very large. For the real thing you go deeper, to Harbaria or on a cruise to Katka; Karamjal is the easy, cheap first taste, and it is a good one. Go early, before the picnic parties.
Getting there: By engine boat from Mongla ferry ghat, 30 to 60 minutes downstream on the Pasur; no road.
Things to do
- Walk the monkey trail to its end and sit a while; the forest comes to you if you are quiet.
- Climb the watchtower for the canopy and the river.
- See the crocodile hatchlings at the breeding centre.
- Read the big map of the Sundarbans at the entrance to see where everything else is.
Good to know
- Don't feed the monkeys; they snatch bags and bite.
- The Pasur gets rough with wind; take a sound engine boat with life jackets, not the cheapest.
- Stay on the boardwalks; the mud is deep and the forest is tiger country, however close to town.
