National Botanical Garden of Bangladesh is located in Mirpur of Dhaka. This is having an area of 210 acres. It was established during 1961. This garden is rich with few rare collection of plants. Best time to visit the garden is during the early morning. Lot of people go there to have a morning jogging. Few people go there to watch the birds as the garden is rich with trees (which provides shelters and foods to the birds). I’ve been to the garden in several times for birdwatching in morning.
The environment inside the garden would not be a pleasant one during the noon or afternoon. These days it is nothing but a dating place that time. Gentle people always avoid this place during the later part of the day. A botanical garden should have to be rich with flower collection, but our one is rich with filthy activities from the dating couples along with the vagabonds. And yet no one is taking any initiative to resolve this.
We have entered inside the botanical garden premise within 6:45am of the morning. It was very early for me. Inside the premise we have found a pair of Black Kite were perching on a leafless tree. There was a small squirrel playing around the small branches of a small tree. A flock of Asian Pied Starling were foraging at the ground for their breakfast.
We have found an area which was having large trees and was darker for the dense leafs. The area was filled with the fragrance from the Devil Tree. It was sweet and the air was too much heavy for that. Beside the tree there was a Cannonball flower tree which was my first time observation with a camera.
Beside the place the botanical garden was having tall trees. It was having a huge noise that was producing by the Fruit bats. They were plenty and were hanging from the trees upside down. Few of those large sized bats were trying to instigate the partner by licking the genital. It wasn’t safe to stand underneath them as they were pooping frequently.
There is a small lake available at the Eastern corner of the garden. But it was totally covered with small water hyacinths in such a way that no water was visible (though that is under those lush greens). It was looking like a green carpet, and a flock of Asian Pied Starling were foraging on that carpet.
Later we have headed for the pond area of the garden and we have observed the White Throated Kingfisher, Black Hooded Oriole, Jungle Babler, Spotted Dove, etc from there. Also that portion was exactly beside the Zoo, and the Lion (or tiger) was making a frightening roaring sound. Beside the pond it has a thick forest with walking paths. This part was too much dark despite of having full sunlight. And a nice hideout for the birds as well.
I have seen the Changeable Rose flower plant many times, but never seen with a flower on it. This botanical garden has several plants of this and found with blooming. Apart from these, the garden is rich with butterflies and the dragonflies. Also, the garden has a large collection of rare trees (but most of the cases the nameplates were missing).
After completing our watching, we have headed for the Sadullapur near Dhaka to explore the rose cultivation. But before leaving the Botanical Garden, we have found an Indian Lizard Monitor that was crawling around lazily.
How to Go:
This National Botanical Garden is located in the Mirpur area of Dhaka. You can come to the garden’s gate using any CNG driven auto rickshaw from anywhere in Dhaka. GPS coordinate of the Botanical Garden’s gate is (23°48’44.68″N, 90°20’51.56″E).
When to Visit:
No matter you are here for birdwatching or exploring it would be better to visit this within 7:00am to 10:00 am of the morning. It would be safe, and embarrassment free for you.
Entry fee:
It requires to buy a ticket for 10 Taka that would allow you to stay for the whole day inside there. Foreigners might have charged for a bit more I think.
Where to Stay:
Dhaka is the capital city of Bangladesh. Everyday lot of visiting people from around the country and also the foreigners use to live in Dhaka. That’s why this city has all quality of hotels (including the bests from the country). Check here for the list of hotels from Dhaka.
National Botanical Garden
Mirpur,
District: Dhaka,
Country: Bangladesh,
GPS coordinate: (23°48’44.68″N, 90°20’51.56″E)
This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog https://alonelytraveler.com/
Saturday, 25 October 2014
