Are you searching for a place engulfed in the shadow of green? Do you want to initiate the new year being closer to nature? After the end of an eventful year, it’s time to celebrate and have a relaxing time by welcoming the new year. And if you can celebrate in a peaceful and tranquil environment under the cadence of the chirping birds, the year kickstarts in style. In the busy town of Gazipur, the Bhawal National Park is located where you can get relief from the humdrum affairs of town-life. It is famously known as “Gazari Gor” or “The clone house of Gazari”. Let’s explore the place.
Where is this located?
In the Sreepur Upazila of Gazipur, the Bhawal National Park is located. It is a 40 km ride from Dhaka. To be precise, the park is built upon 5022 hectares of land beside the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway.
Commute
Located 13 km away from Gazipur city, it takes 2 hours to reach there from Dhaka. You can reach there on any bus en route to Dhaka-Mymensingh. The entry fee is only BDT 10. But if you want to enter with a car, there are other surcharges for parking facilities. The Bhawal National Park remains open from 9 AM-6 PM, as a result, the visitors will get enough time to explore.
Exploring Bhawal National Park
If you are tired of Dhaka’s instrumental life, you can visit Bhawal National Park to experience dense forests covered with big trees and shrubs. Shal/Teak and Gajari are the main trees of this garden. In addition, there are 225 species of different plantations. There are roads and hiking trails for walking through the forest, where you will walk by yourself and see the trees; walking barefoot. Although the park started its activity in 1978, the official inauguration happened in 1982 and it received recognition as a national park.
Flora and Fauna
You can come here to see the beautiful water lilies floating in the water. There are several lakes in the park, one of which is Padmapukur. The eye-soothing beauty of this lake is beyond description. With it, the delinquent blend of the dark green waters of the forest has made the garden a serene abode for the aqua animals and plants.
You can roam around in the lake by hiring a boat. But for that, you have to spend a good amount of money. Once upon a time, the Bhawal National Park was the abode of Tigers, Black Jaguars, Elephants, Peacocks, etc. With the passage of time, they have become extinct here. The deep-dense look of the forest is no more. But you can still find 132 species of wild animals including hedgehogs, deer, monkeys, squirrels, wild boars, etc.; 18 species of mammals, 19 species of reptiles, 84 species of aves and 11 species of amphibians.
The main tree of this forest is Shal/Teak. Other than this, there are 52 families, 147 genus and 356 species of plantations are there. Jiga, Arjun, Aloi, Mahogany, Akashmani, Koroi, Jackfruit, Wood apple, Bahera, etc. are noteworthy.
Other tourist attractions
There are more attractions for people visiting the Bhawal National park. There is a butterfly garden where you can see colorful butterflies of different species! Different species of butterflies will welcome you by sitting on your shoulders as soon as you visit there. That isn’t the end though. There are turtle breeding centers where turtles of all ages will greet you. A mini zoo is also there. There is a watchtower from where you will get a panoramic view of the entire park.
If you have time after visiting Bhawal National Park, you can visit Bhawal Rajbari. This zamindar house is only 5 km from Bhawal National Park. It is an important archaeological site to visit the glorious history of the zamindars. This huge zamindar house is a spherical maze. The story of this landlord’s house will be told in another episode of the Oligoli Vlog !!
