Mission Lawachara

Lawachara forest was the last stop on our three-day, two-night study tour of Sylhet.

It is about as peaceful as a place can get. Birds call all around you, and under it all is that lovely, steady sound of crickets. Anyone would like a place like this.

It is also a huge collection of plants, familiar and unfamiliar, native and foreign, from small ones to giants.

The trees I managed to write down

Out of all those trees, I only managed to note down a few:

• Segun, teak (Tectona grandis)
• Batna (Castanopsis indica)
• Garjan (Dipterocarpus turbinatus)
• Roktan (Lophopetalum fimbriatum)
• African teak oak (Chlorophora spp.)
• Jai bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris)
• Dewa (Artocarpus lacucha)
• Mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni)
• Golapjam, rose apple (Syzygium jambos)
• Lohakath, ironwood
• Bhutum (Hymenodictyon excelsum)
• Oil palm
• Bon pepe, wild papaya
• Mitinga bamboo (Bambusa tulda)
• Jarul (Lagerstroemia speciosa)
• Chapalish
• Lotkon (Baccaurea ramiflora)
• Kadam (Neolamarckia cadamba)
• Torla bamboo (Bambusa burmanica)
• Pitraj (Aphanamixis polystachya)
• Sundari (Heritiera fomes)
• Banshpata (Podocarpus neriifolius)
• Telsur (Hopea odorata)
• Kankra tree

There is also an experimental bamboo garden here from 1981. It covers 10 acres and has eight species of bamboo. There’s a small Khasia village too, but we ran out of time and couldn’t visit it.

Anyway, all in all it was a good day.