Scenic beauty of Matamuhuri Reserve Forest, Alikadam, Bandarban at the origin of Matamuhuri River.

Sometimes the journey is more beautiful than the destination. 😇🖤

📍 Origin of Matamuhuri River, Paharbhanga Para, Matamuhuri Reserve Forest, Alikadam, Bandarban.(2020)

The Pramatta Matamuhuri River originates from a place called Paharbhanga on the southern and eastern border of Alikadam Upazila of Bandarban. Matamuhuri is the only river in Bangladesh which originates and ends in this country. The current form of the settlements built along the banks of this well-known river is Lama and Alikadam upazilas of Bandarban district. There are innumerable streams and canals at the source of Matamuhuri river. On both banks of the river there is a protected Matamuhuri Reserve Forest with an area of about 1 lakh 3 thousand acres. In terms of area, this reserve forest is the second largest reserve forest in the Asian continent.

In this episode we will tell the story of going from Maran Para through Sindhumukh Para to the source of Matamuhuri River.

We walk down from Maran Para along the narrow path. Today the sky is cloudy. At any time the sky can break and rain. After walking for an hour along the narrow path, I reached Sindhumukh neighborhood. There was no fatigue to come this far because of the descent. When he came to the neighborhood, he felt bad. The beauty of the mountains cannot be enjoyed from here due to the vegetation. It was decided that we will spend the night here. So I will leave our bags here. It is not always that everything goes according to one's wish. We left the work bags here. I went out and saw many more houses on the neighborhood, I understood that it is a very big neighborhood. The guide assured us that he will arrange accommodation at the destination. [Details about this neighborhood are coming in the next episode]

Walking down from the neighborhood along the path. For many days I want to enjoy the rain in the solitude of the mountains; That's it. Suddenly it started to drizzle. Walking along the path. Zoom house is visible on a hilltop in front. It will not take much time to go, you can go there by walking for 10-15 minutes. At last, the dream of a long time is going to be fulfilled, I am very happy. I will enjoy the rain from my house and immerse myself in nature. I am walking thinking about that. After going some distance, it suddenly stopped raining. The sun is peeking in the sky, I understand that it will not rain anymore. Another dream had to go back too close; My heart broke.

I started walking again towards the next destination. Sometimes the journey is much more beautiful than the destination. Sometimes walking along the narrow path, sometimes climbing huge mountains, forgetting the fatigue of the road, walking that way again. On the left side of the road, you will see a small village called Chaillatli Para on the beautiful mountain. The people of this neighborhood are burning all the surrounding vegetation to grow jum on the hills we are walking. We have nothing to say there.

Matamuhuri reserve forest is worst affected by unplanned felling of trees. It is currently an officially declared union. Where ten thousand people live now. What we are losing will not come back even in the next 100 years. Now the river has dried up, water is not available in the streams. We are yet to take any effective action on tree felling, unplanned zoom. In this regard, the hill community should be convinced. Otherwise we have to pay a heavy price for this.

We sat on the burnt trees and rested for a while. Suddenly I saw the mountaineers leaving here and going to the neighborhood to have lunch and chess and maybe come back again. Everyone is walking in a line along with their two pet dogs. Many are leaving their baskets and baskets here. Because there is no fear of losing here. After they left we took some pictures with them. Then I left for the destination again.

Looking at the beauty of both sides, if you go a little further, you can see another beautiful neighborhood on the right side from a distance. Which is called Machkhum Para. We are walking along the winding mountain road. I am going to see the huge mountain peaks all around. We are not too high, very high. I saw various unknown fruits and flowers in many places. I saw a pink colored banana bunch (mocha). Most of the monkeys eat them if they catch bananas. Suddenly I saw a huge jam tree, there is no one to eat the jams. The jams are still raw, so I regretted; After a few days, jam could actually be eaten. As I walked I saw the top of Wali Tong hill. It is a hilltop located on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border. A little further ahead, I see Paharbhanga neighborhood. The river source of Matamuhuri is below the village. We now have to descend steeply from the top. I fell very quickly. If I go up again along this route, it will take 5 times more time than coming down.

We walked along the Matamuhuri River and reached the bottom of the village. There is a small playground next to the river where children of this neighborhood play football. We proceeded a little further, here is the junction of Matadusari Jhiri and Fatra Jhiri from where the Matamuhuri River originates. We rested here for a while and took a bath. The water is very clear. There are many large shrimp fish here. We didn't bring anything with us that we couldn't catch fish for. Caught a few fish with my hands, nothing will happen with them. So I left them again. There is still a long way to go. So I left again for Sindhumukh Para. But not over the hill; I sailed through Matamuhuri river. Here we are going to witness many exciting moments!

To be continued...