Bangladesh Tea Country

We hit tea country in the off season, so the tea plants were quite bare and there was not much activity on the plantations. But we didn't let this stop us from renting some bicycles and pedaling around the rolling hills along the plantations. It was quite pleasant landscape...until we reached a protected forest reserve and saw what the landscape should look like. Instead of neatly groomed fields of shrubs, we encountered lush, thick tropical forest....another wild haven in this densely populated country. We explored several trails while listening to the endangered gibbons (small apes) bantering back and forth from the canopy in a comical symphony that reminded me of a table of old ladies gossiping wildly. We suddenly were encountering birds, butterflies, spiders, and various insects that aren't found beyond the protected boundary of this forest. Bangladesh has several protected sites like this, but these places are such a small proportional area. Even more, these protected areas face so many threats from locals struggling to make a living. Deforestation and other environmental issues seem like such black and white issues when you read about them, but when you put the struggles into context...human survival versus habitat for an endangered ape, the lines become quite blurred and the issue much more complex. But Tim and I relished the expansive green surrounding us on our hikes and the bike ride along the forested corridor. It would have been a perfect day if not for the flat tire that made for a slow return trip!!