Madhupur National Park

Madhupur protects one of the finest sal forests in Bangladesh, about 125 km from Dhaka, on flat-topped ridges called chala cut by shallow hollows called baid; sal covers about 40 per cent of the forest, with many other hardwoods around it. Plantations of teak and other trees have been made inside the park, and its 21 kinds of mammal include rhesus macaques, Bengal Hanuman langurs, the endangered capped langur, golden jackals and Bengal foxes, alongside 140 bird species, which make it an Important Bird Area. Many people live in and along the park: some 4,500 Garo were allowed to settle inside it in 1968, and rice is grown on the low ground, pineapple and cassava on the higher land.

Background

The park covers 8,436 hectares in Madhupur Upazila, Tangail District, in the north of the country. It was set up as a national park in 1962 and formally declared one in 1982. The climate is generally moderate, from about 10 °C at its coolest in January to 37 °C in May, with a tropical monsoon from June to September, and the soils vary from loam to clay and sandy loam. Some 176 plant species have been identified here, among them 73 trees and 45 medicinal plants, and 190 animal species, including 29 kinds of snake.

Source: Wikipedia, "Madhupur National Park"

The landscape

• The sal forest - one of the finest in Bangladesh, sal making up about 40 per cent.
• Chala and baid - flat-topped ridges and the shallow hollows between them.
• Garo villages - the communities living in and around the park.
• Langurs and macaques - with 140 species of birds.

When to go

November to March, outside the June to September monsoon. Half a day.

Good to know

This is a lived-in forest, with plantations and fields among the sal, and the tigers it was once famous for are extinct.

Nearby

Tangail is south; Mymensingh lies north-east.

Key facts