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Shilkhali's age-old garjan trees are unique in Cox's Bazar's coastal belt. |
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Transport through the forest. |
In Shilkhali the setting Bay of Bengal sun
sends golden light from beyond the beach and through the first fields to meet
the towering trunks of the garjan trees. Hundreds are lit as candles by the
orange glow. It’s quite a show.
The air is cooler, the day is done and
locals haven’t passed up the chance to stroll among the leafy giants that tower
over the scattering of nearby tin and thatch homes. Unique in the coastal belt
for having stood the test of time, this age-old forest in Cox’s Bazar beneath
Teknaf’s range holds a beauty that cannot be denied.
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Fishermen with fry in the back of a jeep. |
Trees rise before and after the Marine
Drive; and what’s more interesting right in the middle of the road, as though
the forest barely tolerates the line of pitch passing through its enchanted territory.
In the several places where roadway is divided into narrow lanes squeezing
either side of a resolute garjan trunk the shared CNGs and small trucks must weave
courteous s-curves to get through. It’s as though the traffic tips its hat in
honour of the trees.
Nearby a few tea shops are coming to life.
Customers are ready to reacquaint themselves with neighbours after a day of
labour. Nearby, on a shady field a football match is underway.
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A CNG three-wheeler weaves, where the trees own the road. |
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Football under the garjan trees. |
Such activities could characterise the life
of many a village but in Shilkhali the forest grants an added degree of
calmness to proceedings. In the tea shops it seems impossible to retain tension.
Over the football ground the garjan canopy presides as silent, ever present
referee.
Fading eastward into the shadow before the
mountains, the garjan forest is a site that any passing tourist will want to
see.
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Tea shops come to life in the late afternoon. |
To the north in Shilkhali Bazar proper
there’s talk of a wild elephant group that sometimes arrives by 8 p.m., wandering
down from the hills to trample paddy in search of food. The villagers are yet
brave and ready to chase them off.
And besides, if the group doesn’t arrive
there’s a lone individual, a regular elephant who can be relied upon to grace
the hillside farmlands from 9 pm until dawn.
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Shilkhali: looking inland from the beach. |
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A fishing trawler on wheels: a kind of hovercraft? |
Local Abdul Karim, 18, who studies in class
9, leads the way with his friends along a country lane, a short walk to the
east, to show a trampled fence and a large, recently broken jackfruit tree.
“Elephants eat coconut, banana and
jackfruit,” he says, adding that the betel and areca palm gardens are spared. “You
should see how an elephant headbutts a coconut palm to make the coconuts fall;
how they open green coconuts with their feet.”
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It's as though the garjan forest isn't quite comfortable to let the road go through. |
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Crab patterns on the beach. |
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Crab art. |
Asked if the elephants worry him he shakes
his head. “I wasn’t scared of them when I was little. Why would I be scared
now?”
A short walk to the west meanwhile brings
us to the beach with a minor lagoon to wade through before reaching the empty,
stunning sand stretch. The red crabs by their hundreds scurrying into burrows
were clearly not expecting visitors.
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Trawlers by the shore. |
Alone on the foreshore further down, fisherman
Hasan is hoping for shrimp, busy with nets.
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The Teknaf Range. |
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The jeep on the way there. |
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To the Bay of Bengal. |
To the south of the forest meanwhile new plots
are well-marked between road and beach, with signboard names of hotel this and
hotel that. Accommodation has made a long term booking it would seem to stay in
the area along Teknaf’s northern coast; and what will the garjan forest make of
it should sun seeking crowds arrive in coming years?
Yet for the moment, the area is quiet.
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The garjan forest: see it before the tourists get there. |
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Fisherman. |
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The crabs aren't expecting visitors. |
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Me with Abdul Karim and his friends. |
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