There is a nice old Banyan tree located in Matiranga of Khagrachhari district. It is not a hugely popular tourist attraction, but several local visitors come here. This Banyan tree had spread around from the main plant by creating trunks. Those all trunked plants are connected to the main one. Actually those are created from the main one, a branch. There is a school located beside the tree which is named as Alutila Bot-toli Junior High School.
It was Monday when we visited the Banyan tree in Matiranga. Usually I don’t travel on working days, unless it’s a government holiday. But I had to stay till Monday in Khagrachhari as after 2:30pm there used to be no bus services available for Dhaka. If I wanted to return back on Sunday then my tour duration would become a day and half . Which was not sufficient to cover most of the tourist attractions of the district. That’s why I decided to return back on Monday morning.
Since the bus was at 2:30pm in the afternoon, we had some time to explore the district for more. We have decided to visit this 400 years of old Banyan tree which is located in Matiranga Upazila of Khagrachari. This is a mammoth tree, and according to some, it’s one of the largest banyan trees from Bangladesh. Local people call this as Parjatan Bot Gachh.
How to go:
We used public transport to go to Matiranga. There are several buses available in Khagrachhori bus terminal which use to leave for Feni and Chittagong. You could take any of those. Approximately every 10-15 minutes a bus leaves the bus terminal. You’d be required to pay 20 Taka per person, and the bus would drop you at Matiranga bazar. From there, you have to hire a motorbike. Two people could ride on a single bike. It would take you around 80-100 Taka for taking you to the banyan tree, and return back to the bazar (as of 2010)..
Banyan tree (Bot gachh),
Upazila: Matiranga,
District: Khagrachhari,
Country: Bangladesh,
Written by Lonely Traveler,
For blog alonelytraveler.com
Monday, 02 August 2010
