Bhawal National Park

Bhawal National Park is truly a natural treasure. The park was established in 1974 with the main
goal of protecting the park’s most important habitants. It was also designed to provide recreational
opportunities for the people . it was officially declared in 1982 under the Wildlife Act of 1974. The
core area of the park covers 940 hectares but extends to 5,022 ha of surrounding forest. Its
purpose is to protect important habitats as well as to provide opportunities for recreation. It has
been kept under IUCN Management Category V, as a protected landscape. The most common flora is
the unique coppice sal forest.

It is a vast (1,600 acres) national recreational forest with Picnic spots; jangles of Gajari trees
surrounded by a beautiful lake .you can enjoy boats horse riding here. Especially in the winter,
season lots of picnic party enjoy their day in this park. In this park also some cottages you can stay
here by rent thouse cottages.
Location

The Park located in Gazipur, Dhaka Division of Bangladesh, approximately 40 km north of Dhaka
city, only 20 km drive from Gazipur and 20 km from Kapasia. Coordinates :24°5′45″N 90°24′14″E
Biodiversity

Soil type: The Park area presents an undulated configuration and consists of highlands
called Chalas covered with forest trees intercepted by numerous depressions called baids
that are cultivated with paddy. Actually, most of the baids are private land. The soil of the
area is acidic (pH 5.5), yellowish-red, sandy clay loam, mixed with scattered manganiferous
iron ore. The newer alluminium is gray. The porosity of the soil is relatively poor and with
the onset of the monsoon the soil melts and becomes very soft. The organic carbon is
approximately 0.73%.

•Visitor: There are 06 Rest Houses (4 AC, 1 Non AC and 1 damaged), 13 Cottages (10
useable and 3 unusable), Walking Trail (about 25 km.), 03 Artificial Lakes (total length
about 6 Km.), 15 Ponds (5 within Core Zone), 2 Observation Towers (1 damaged), and 50
Picnic Spots (within and out side of the forest), 1 Tourist Shop (with a canteen), 1 Tom
Tom (horse pulled van), Several Tourist Vans, engine boats (within artificial lake) for
tourist, 1 Mini Zoo (with 12 spotted deers and 01 pheasants), etc.

Habitat, Flora and Fauna: Topographically the landscape comprises mainly plain land with
some area covered by forest. This site was once a largely dense forest. The type of forest
is deciduous with a mixture of evergreen forest. However, evergreen forest area is
negligible.
Identified flora: The main species of the forest is Shal / Gajari (Shorea robusta). Total
identified plant species number is 202 species under 147 genera and 52 families.
Gramineae in Monocotyledons and Legunimosae among the Dictyledons are the most
dominant represented by 25 species under each. Except Sal, the other notable floral
species of the forest are Haldu, Koroi, Satian, Roina, Kadom, Dewa, Gutum, Ajuki, Neem,
Kanchan, Shimul, Kanjal, Joyna, Palash, Sonalu, Gab, Jam, Bot, Ashatta, Jagdumur, Jial,
Jiga, Jarul, Shinduri, Bonam, Amra, Chapalish, Amloki, Hortoki, Bohera, Hargaza, Gadila,
etc. The herb and shrub species are Shati, Punch, Bashak, Shorpogondha, Ulatcombol,
Shotomuli, Paharialu, Ampeng, Thaja, Dudalu, Adurag, Chutki gota, Kat badam, etc. There
are many types of bamboo such as Jai bansh, Muli bansh and various canes like Jali bet,
Golla bet. Besides, there are many types’ climbers and vines, herbs and shrubs.

Land surrounding the site and few patches outside the forest is intensively cropped. The
entire area including the connecting Canals, Streams and Rivers are intensively fished with
a diverse variety of gears. According to the local community there has been massive geo-
physical change over last 20 years with rapid and almost complete deforestation of the
forest area as well as only river Turag and Chilai followed by a rapid loss of connectivity
due to encroachment and increased sedimentation. The Turag & the Chilai River flowing in
the western and in the eastern side of the forest respectively.

Ecological context: One of the few remaining patches of Sal forest (original forest has
been destroyed; current one is secondary forest, originated from coppice and seedlings) in
Bangladesh

Forest types: The Park contains low forest type with Sal generally comprising the upper
layer of canopy. The lower canopy is still composed of Sal mixed with other medium-sized
trees. This forest type comprises the major wildlife habitat in the park.

Socio-economic context: The Bhawal National Park is also a popular tourist spot. Tourists
visit the park throughout the year. However, most of the tourists visit mainly during
winter season. Subsequently, many people are employed through various services related to
tourism. A huge number of people are living surrunding area of Bhawal National Park.
Similarly, a huge number of people depend on the forest for subsidence. Around 20-25
groups (average number of visitors 600) visit Bhawal National Park each day. Compositions
of visitors are 80 percent male and 20 percent female. There are 6 gates in BNP, where
ticketing system availablel in each gate.
Our field trip map