I am again in Bangladesh, with my sustainable development class to study the dynamic environment of the Ganges Brahmaputra Delta and the dynamic environment of the people who live there. A group of 25 people – 10 Columbia University students, one of Chekia, 10 Dhaka University (DU) students, two DU professors, my daughter – participated with two tapas and Sakib. blackThe world’s largest NGO. Tapas and Saqib are working with me on a project to develop adaptations in southwestern Bangladesh. There, there is insufficient freshwater, an increasing heatwave, and agriculture and aquaculture must adapt to climate change. We are all busy at 85 feet m/v Kokirmoni in the Sundarban Mangrove forest. On our journey, all students are becoming fast friends.
I woke up in Anharmanik, a new tourist destination in the north of Sundarban. There, I will spend the next two days. It’s a great interlude after a few days of bus rides in the oppressive heat. After breakfast we went for a walk along the newly created path through the forest. Although not very wildlife except for the wrapped deer near the entrance, we were able to walk through the diversity of forest plants, including many epiphytic and air plants that live in the trees.
It then continued south to Katoka and arrived five to six hours later. We went on another long walk in the forest, with numerous deer, monkeys, wild boars, various birds, and cobras along the way. I handed over some piles of broken ceramics and saw a ki making salt from about 300 years ago. People will make salt pots at spring current levels. For two weeks during the spring tide, the water evaporates into brine. The pot was then filled with salted water and heated over ki to make a pot of salt. I think the salt making was destroyed by a cyclone in 1699. Along the coast, we could see ruins of a building that was destroyed by Cyclone SIDR in 2007, ravaged the coast as a Category 4 storm.
After a walk we walked to the new observation tower and quickly crossed the waterway and passed through the Tiger Ferne. There is a big cat hidden there. It was late in the afternoon, dozens of deer grazing in the open patch of the forest, but birds could be seen on nearby trees. Several people walked to the deer, but were scattered as people approached.
The evening on the boat included many card games among mixed-bangladeshi students in the US, but there was also a lecture from Tapas and Saqib on BRAC’s climate change program. Both prompted a lot of questions and discussion. What’s theoretical and distant in New York is now genuine and personal.
The next morning we all climbed up a country boat and rode a silent boat in the tide channel at dawn to watch the wildlife. We mostly saw birds, but deep in the forest we heard two loud, very low groans that I think must have been a tiger. After that we sailed to Dimature. In the past, this was a great place to see inheritance from bare sand to grass, shrubs and trees. However, as the place where we landed was eroded, we mostly saw a transition from sand to mangroves, both on the coast and underwater, with many dead stumps. After a long walk we stopped swimming at the beach. Once you enter the head waters of the Bay of Bengal, there is no land south of us to Antarctica 10,000 km away.
Our last stop at Sundarban was delayed by a thunderstorm. Once it passed, we went to Kochihari and walked to the Tiger Point Observatory. In addition to deer, monkeys, birds and wild boars, we came across frogs that were less than half an inch long. After a walk we began heading north from the forest. By morning we had arrived in Shankhora district. We tried to visit a different village than in 2023, but Kokirmoni got stuck on a bar of sand just in front of Kumarkari. Fate decides that Kokirmoni should return here while he is freeing himself. Athletics, Colombia and Du students spread to interview residents about climate change, migration and heat stress, and Elizabeth and I walked along with our guide Romeo. We ended up spending time with the lovely family who gave us green coconuts and saw our kids play more games.
After meeting everyone on the embankment that protects the town, previously devastated by Cyclone Siddles, we had lunch at a nearby elementary school and a cyclone shelter. Instead of the expected lunch, Kokilmoni crew set up a regular idiot food slurred with Sterno Cans to keep the dishes warm. After lunch, the students continued to do a few more interviews, but bought a lot of watermelon and green coconuts for their final night on the boat.
The final meal was a delicious barbecue with chicken, fish and grilled vegetables. Last night on the top deck featured a discussion about travel and making friends. One of my students sings in Bangla with one of the DU students. Many students woke up late, spoke to me on their last night and played cards.
We left the boat early in the morning and visited 60 dome mosques on our way back to Dhaka. It was completed in 1459 by early “PIR” or by the Muslim saint Khan Jahan. The Muslim saint cleared the land and established a community centered around what is now Bagelhat. The pillars of the mosque are stones. That means it had to be shipped from India at a large cost. Behind the mosque is a huge 21-acre freshwater pond with a huge expanse that had to be hand-dried. He then continued to Dhaka and crossed the Padma Bridge, over the rivers of its name, the rivers of Ganges and Brahmaputra. The bridge opened in 2023 and is over 6 km long, with mountains stretching 127 meters to the ground to support this sandy Delta land.
The bridge meant we saved a lot of time travel compared to crossing the river by ferry. We went to Dhaka University and visited the school, including the Karzon Hall, which was built under the Great Britain’s Large from 1904 to 1908. Language protest In 1952, when East Pakistan protested the declaration that Urdu and Urdu were the languages ​​of Pakistan. From the university we went to nearby large New Aron, the world’s largest handicraft store. Started by BRAC in 1978, it empowers rural artisans and currently supports over 75,000 fair trade artisans. After the spending, we had dinner and then we said goodbye with lots of embraces and tears as we headed to the airport to get home.
Many of my students said this trip had been transformed forever, as they saw this flat yet dynamic landscape, bonded with DU students and spent time listening to the country villagers who live in this occasional whimsical land. People who, despite their poor, opened their arms to us and shared small foods that they had to welcome us. Now my students and my daughter know why I continue to return to Bangladesh every year.
