Sitakunda eco park is located in Sitakunda upazila of Chittagong district. This is only 37 kilometer before the Chittagong district. This eco park was established in 2001 over 800 hectares of hilly area. During the hot summer of 2010 we decided to explore the park. We did a small trekking to explore the waterfalls named Suptadhara and Shahasradhara. Due to the dry season there was no water in the waterfall at all. That’s why later in August (rainy season in Bangladesh) of the same year went there again to see the water in the waterfall.
View towards the Bay of Bengal from Sitakunda eco park during summer.
We reached Sitakunda eco park using a CNG driven auto rickshaw. The hills were grey in color due to dried plants. At some places the soil was visible. It wasn’t as beautiful as it usually is during the rainy season. We’ve had a walk beside the water stream (coming from the waterfall). But there wasn’t any water in the stream as well. It appears that we’ve gone to a desert.
That’s why we’ve gone to the Sitakunda eco park again in August. That time everywhere it was bright green. The water stream was full with water and gave us the hope that the waterfall would be full with water. During the dry season it wasn’t that much fun to walk on the route. But during the rainy season the route was really beautiful with the clear water, greens, and small rocks.
A water stream coming from the Suptadhara waterfall.
We’ve had a seat beneath the Suptadhara waterfall for a while. After that we climbed up and explored the top of the waterfall. The top of the Suptadhara waterfall is very beautiful compared to the waterfall itself. The area is totally packed with solid rock. There were plenty of small waterfalls with mini pools. We had a relaxing seating in that area for an hour.
During the dry season the stream looks like this.
Then we started to do a trek to go back to the main road. It was a different route. During the summer the path was very visible. But during the rainy season it was covered with plenty of bushes and jungles. Sometimes it was hard for us to find the main trail. But we didn’t give up and reached the main trail again. The path was packed with leeches.
Suptadhara waterfall.
After having a short walk over the road (inside the park for cars) we’ve reached the top of the eco park. From there we could see the other waterfall named Shahasradhara. This waterfall is a smaller one but the upper stream of the previous waterfall. We had to climb down to reach near the waterfall. The path had staircases. So it was a very relaxing descent (although the return back was very tiresome).
Shahasradhara waterfall.
We didn’t have much activity around the waterfall as it was a very small place. Didn’t see any path that would lead us to the top of this waterfall. So after observing the waterfall we climbed back and decided to return back to the town. We were tired from the day-long trek. But I enjoyed the beauty of the two waterfalls along with the Sitakunda eco park. From there we had a walk towards the Sitakunda train station. From there we’ve returned back to Chittagong city by the local train to save some cost.
It is hard to find the walking trail during the rainy season.
How to go
Sitakunda Eco park is just beside the Comilla-Chittagong Highway. It’s just 37 kilometer away from Chittagong town, and 1 kilometer away from Sitakunda bazar. You can have a taxi, or CNG driven auto rickshaw, or bus, or train to reach that place. We hired an auto rickshaw, and it did cost 270 Taka (as of 2010) from Chittagong to Sitakunda. When returning from the echo park, you have to go to Sitakunda bazar first, there you’d have plenty of auto rickshaws to hire. During our return we used the local train from the train station. It was very packed and crowded.
The trail during rainy season is green like this.
Sitakunda eco park,
Sitakunda upazila,
Chittagong district,
Bangladesh,
GPS coordinate (22°36’10.9″N, 91°40’37.6″E).
Written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog http://alonelytraveler.com/
Sunday, 28th March 2010
