Sreemangal Upazila

Gibbon calls at dawn, tea rows by afternoon

Sreemangal deserves two days. On day one, walk Lawachara National Park at first light with a guide to hear hoolock gibbons, visit the Khasi village, then stroll a tea estate on the Bhanugach road in the afternoon. On day two, go to Baikka Beel's watchtower and Madhabpur Lake in winter, or Hum Hum waterfall in the monsoon.

Day one starts in the dark. Be at Lawachara National Park at first light with a local guide, walking the trails near the railway line and listening for the whooping call of hoolock gibbons; they are most active in the early hours. Before leaving the park, stop at the Khasi village, where betel vines climb the trunks of the forest trees. Back in town, rest through the middle of the day.

In the afternoon, take a CNG out along the Bhanugach road and walk between the rows of a tea estate as the light softens over the hills, with permission from the garden office. On the way back, stop for a glass of layered tea and watch it being poured.

Day two depends on the season. In winter, leave before sunrise for the watchtower at Baikka Beel, then cross to Madhabpur Lake in the afternoon for the tea hills around the water. In the monsoon, swap both for a full day at Hum Hum waterfall, 40 km away in the Rajkandi forest, with a guide, good shoes and patience on the mud.

Layered tea, pineapples and shatkora in Sreemangal

Tea is half the reason to come to Sreemangal. Order a glass of layered tea, made popular by Nilkantha Tea Cabin, then plain milky estate tea, and buy loose leaf near the bazaar. Small, sweet pineapples sell by the roadside in summer, shatkora citrus flavours local curries, and town restaurants serve rice, dal, fish and bhorta.

Drinking tea is half the reason to come. The town's famous creation is layered tea, poured so that bands of different colour and flavour sit one above another in the glass; Nilkantha Tea Cabin made it popular, and copies have spread to other stalls. Order one for the novelty, then try plain milky estate tea, which is the everyday drink and often better. Shops near the bazaar sell loose leaf from the local gardens, a light thing to carry home.

Fruit comes next. Sreemangal's pineapples are small, sweet and sold in heaps along the roadside in the summer and monsoon months, and lemons and other citrus grow in the surrounding hills; shatkora, the thick-skinned Sylheti citrus, turns up cooked with beef or fish in local curries. Ordinary restaurants in town serve rice, dal, fish curry and a spread of mashed vegetable bhorta. For anything smarter, eat at the resorts on the Bhanugach road, but book a table if you are not staying there.

Cool clear winters, heavy May rains and the Rash Utsab

Visit Sreemangal in December and January, when highs reach 25°C to 27°C, nights drop to 10°C to 12°C and rain is almost absent, with migrant ducks at Baikka Beel. Storms start in April, May and June bring about 450 mm each, and October and November are a good shoulder season. The Manipuri Rash Utsab falls on the November full moon.

Sreemangal's weather swings harder than most of Bangladesh. December and January are the clear months, with highs of 25-27C and nights that drop to 10-12C, cool enough for a sweater on an early forest walk; rain is almost absent, with 7 mm falling in January and 16 mm in December. This is when Baikka Beel fills with migrant ducks and waders.

By March the days reach 32C, and in April the storms start, bringing over 200 mm of rain. May and June are the wettest months, at roughly 450 mm each. The rain makes the tea flush bright green and fills Hum Hum, but trails become slippery and leeches appear. Things ease in October (174 mm) and November (30 mm), a good shoulder season.

In November the Manipuri community near Kamalganj holds its Rash Utsab on the full moon, with all-night dance performances in the Krishna tradition at Madhabpur. If your dates fit, it is the most memorable night in the district; rooms fill early.