Khaled Yasin Rashid visits Bangladesh’s only safari park and revels in the company of its marvellous inhabitants but finds that without the government’s immediate attention, the park may be faced with a daunting chance of survival
The park, previously known as the Dulahazara Safari Park
The safari park is an hour’s drive away from the Cox’s Bazar town. If travelling in a small group, catching a micro-bus, maxi or a four-wheel-drive with seating arrangements on the roof from Cox’s Bazar will cost 20 to 40 taka a head, which is a cheap and efficient way to get there.
The land area was a 60.7 hectare Deer Breeding Centre which was established in 1965; in 2001 the park was officially opened on an extended area. Technically, the eco-tourism site is not actually a safari park but a zoo in which the animals are kept in enclosures resembling their natural habitats but the park is still worth a visit.
Last year the establishment had a total of four lakh visitors with the peak months being October and April. The entry fee is Tk 12. Since it is a large area, a bus service worth Tk 300 per person is available to take visitors to every enclosure in the park within a few hours. The bus ride is not worth it and the best course of action would be to make a day of it and visit every nook and cranny of the park on foot.
Large animals inhabit large enclosures mimicking their natural environment. The most impressive pens in the park would have to be the areas where the sambar deers and the hippos are housed. The three hippos at the park are kept in a near perfect habitat in which they can actually hide from onlookers. Spotting the hippos is difficult but the best time to spot them is early in the morning or right before sunset. The park opens at 8:00am and closes at 6:00pm and once inside, visitors can stay till nightfall.
Catching a glimpse of a hippo is difficult but a Sambar deer is nearly impossible. The deer species is a very shy breed, its cage comprises of a woodland area descending down to a splendid shallow lake. Mohammed Mozamel and his family have visited the park on numerous occasions but have seen the elusive beast just once. ‘My family and I just got a glance of it once; the deer just inquisitively poked its head out of the woodlands before retreating back into its stronghold.’
However not all the animals are kept in wide-open spaces. The park has a decent number of primates; such as the rare ‘Slow Loris’ and a solid collection of birds such as kites, eagles, emus, owls, turkeys, peacocks and hornbills which are held captive in cages. A telling factor about the park is that the animals seem healthy and active.
The emus approach visitors, the hornbills seem absolutely intrigued by onlookers and there is even a stork which spreads its wings, puts one foot in front of the other and poses whenever a camera is pointed in its direction. Since it is a natural area, there is even a wild troop of macaque monkeys living in the premises.
A zookeeper explains how the family of miscreants is a thorn in the side of park staff. ‘The macaques form a tight group, they snarl and charge the emus, driving them away from their food and then they help themselves and finish all the food we give to the birds. Keepers have to enter the emu enclosure on a regular basis just to chase them away.’
The park even offers free elephant rides. Although free, going from one end of the line to the other during peak hours is the price to pay. The elephant pair used for the rides is highly accustomed to interacting with people. Although the male elephant is quite skittish, the female will allow visitors to pet and feed her.
In addition, the safari park has a high number of highly active Asiatic black bears but the park’s real success story is the Asiatic lion. The Asiatic lion is a subspecies of lions exclusive to the Gir Forest of Gujrat, India. It is one of the most endangered big cats in the world and as of 2005, there are only 359 individuals surviving in the wild. In India
A top forest officer in charge of running the park who chose anonymity, comments on the success of the Asiatic lion. ‘Since opening, there has been 15 to 20 animal deaths mainly related to old age complications. We get about two to three births a year, this is not a facility where we push animals to breed, we let the animals be and if they choose to mate it is completely up to them.’ ‘We currently have five lions, of which three are cubs. The lion pair has bred regularly, the oldest cub is a year old, the youngest is three months old and the one in between is seven months of age. We keep the lions and tigers in small enclosures because the big cats are the main attraction for tourists. The safari park was meant to be a real safari experience.’
After climbing a short flight of stairs, the two tigers and the five lions can be viewed in adjacent pens from a raised platform allowing a view from above.
‘The plan was that by 2008, all the enclosures would be removed, the whole area would be shared by all the animals.
‘The walkways would be taken off and the animals would only be viewed from the safety of a bus. But unfortunately, it has been a year past the deadline; the park management has had a string of setbacks and as our budget was cancelled last year, we barely had the resources to keep our existing animals healthy and alive.’
‘We have a new budget now and the plan is to get the park fully operational within the next two years, create a large bird house and bring in more animals from Africa. Some of the animals which have already been domesticated like the wild cow are allowed to roam about the compound freely,’
of its range. The pair is very healthy and their accommodation is also worthy.
It also has swamp deers, spotted deers, fishing cats, wild dogs, a clouded leopard which is nearly extinct in Bangladesh
The park has a 12 foot tall boardwalk which starts from the black bear pens and goes through the woods and ends above the sambar enclosure. There is also a 10-storey tall watch tower, from the top of which visitors can get a 360 degree view for as far as the eye can see. But due to problems with management, the structures are in a dire state.
A walk on the boardwalk is not for the faint of heart. Many sections do not have a railing on one side, in some parts the railing is absent on both sides and every step on the rickety structure is a gut-wrencher. The viewing platform of the watch tower is nauseatingly filthy.
All the problems began with the departure of the park’s former director, Dr Tapan Kumar Dey. Another forest officer who chose to remain anonymous has nothing but fond memories of the director. ‘He was a man with a real passion for wildlife, it was not fake and he truly cared for the welfare of all the animals under his charge.’
‘After he left, we have found it difficult to get our bearings right. Without proper funding, great ideas like the boardwalk are going to waste. There are very few people in the country who are as well informed about wildlife as he is. If he was present today I would gladly claim that 80 per cent of the park would have been fully operational by now,’ he adds.
With a new budget and a set goal to get everything ready in two years time, park officials are looking for a brighter future. Even now the safari park would be a good visit, mainly because the animals are lively and in good spirits unlike Dhaka ’s Mirpur Zoo.
There are also other attractions at the park. Advertised as an ecotourism resort, there are a total of eight water reservoirs and two artificial lakes which attract large numbers of different bird species. It is a haven for bird watchers who come from far and wide for a leisurely trek through the woods.
photo by Khaled Yasin Rashid
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