Kaptai National Park is a national park in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

situated in

Rangamati Rangamati (Bengali: রাঙ্গামাটি;) is the administrative headquarter and town of Rangamati Hill District in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. The town is located at 22°37'60N 92°12'0E and has an altitude of . The distr ...

District. It was established in 1999 and its area is 5,464.78 hectares(13,498.0 Acres). Prior to the declaration of the national park, it was known as Sitapahar Reserve. The original Sitapahar Reserve area was 14,448.0 acres. Out of this an area of 100 acres have been dereserved for the establishment of the industrial estate at Kaptai. It is about 57 kilometre from Chittagong city. It comprises with two Ranges namely Kaptai Range and Karnaphuli Range. Kaptai National park is managed under CHT South Forest Division. It is historically important because teak (''

Tectona grandis Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panicl ...

'') plantations in Bangladesh were started from this area. Its forest type is mixed evergreen forest. In 2009 IPAC (Integrated Protected Area Co-management) project started its activities in this protected area.

Socio-economic context

The national park is situated inside the Kaptai City and it gets many visitors year round. Nearly 60 local people are employed as service providers to tourists. Kaptai National Park provides subsistence to local people through NTFPs. Surrounding population of the National Park area is about 3000. The park is located near the largest man made lake in Bangladesh which is Kaptai lake.

Wildlife diversity

Kaptai National Park is unique for its historic monumental Teak plantations of 1873, 1878 and 1879, the starting points of modern Forest Management in this sub-continent. These plantations have taken the look of natural forests and supports wildlife. Notable animals are

Asian elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus ''Elephas'' and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the no ...

(''Elephas maximus''),

western hoolock gibbon The western hoolock gibbon (''Hoolock hoolock'') is a primate from the gibbon family, Hylobatidae. The species is found in Assam, Mizoram, and Meghalaya in India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar west of the Chindwin River. Classification Mootnick and ...

(''Hylobates hoolock''),

Phayre's leaf monkey Phayre's leaf monkey (''Trachypithecus phayrei''), also known as Phayre's langur, is a species of lutung native to South and Southeast Asia, namely India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. Populations from further east are now thought to belong to other s ...

(''Trachypithecus phayrei''),

capped langur The capped langur (''Trachypithecus pileatus'') is a species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. It is native to Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Myanmar. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests. It is threatened by habita ...

(''Trachypithecus pileatus''), Asian wild dog (''Cuon alpinus''),

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

(''Sus scrofa''), sambar (''Cervus unicolor''),

barking deer Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking ** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government dist ...

(''Muntiacus muntjak''),

clouded leopard The clouded leopard (''Neofelis nebulosa''), also called the mainland clouded leopard, is a wild cat inhabiting dense forests from the foothills of the Himalayas through mainland Southeast Asia into South China. In the early 19th century, a cl ...

(''Neofelis nebulosa''),

Burmese python The Burmese python (''Python bivittatus'') is one of the largest species of snakes. It is native to a large area of Southeast Asia and is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Until 2009, it was considered a subspecies of the Indian python ...

(''Python vivittatus''), etc. Among these, elephants, clouded leopards and dholes are critically endangered species of Bangladesh. Although elephants and gibbons are fairly common, dholes and sambars are very rare. It is a harbour of many wild birds. Notable birds are

red junglefowl The red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus'') is a tropical bird in the family Phasianidae. It ranges across much of Southeast Asia and parts of South Asia. It was formerly known as the Bankiva or Bankiva Fowl. It is the species that gave rise to the ...

(''Gallus gallus''),

kalij pheasant The kalij pheasant (''Lophura leucomelanos'') is a pheasant found in forests and thickets, especially in the Himalayan foothills, from Pakistan to western Thailand. Males are rather variable depending on the subspecies involved, but all have at ...

(''Lophura leucomelanos''),

lineated barbet The lineated barbet (''Psilopogon lineatus'') is an Asian barbet native to the Terai, the Brahmaputra basin to Southeast Asia. It is a frugivore A frugivore is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of pla ...

(''Magalaima lineata''),

oriental pied hornbill The oriental pied hornbill (''Anthracoceros albirostris'') is an Indo-Malayan pied hornbill, a large canopy-dwelling bird belonging to the family Bucerotidae. Two other common names for this species are Sunda pied hornbill (''convexus'') and Mala ...

(''Anthracoceros albirostris''),

Indian roller The Indian roller (''Coracias benghalensis'') is a bird of the family Coraciidae. It is long with a wingspan of and weighs . The face and throat are pinkish, the head and back are brown, with blue on the rump and contrasting light and dark blu ...

(''Coracias benghalensis''),

cattle egret The cattle egret (''Bubulcus ibis'') is a cosmopolitan species of heron (family Ardeidae) found in the tropics, subtropics, and warm-temperate zones. It is the only member of the monotypic genus ''Bubulcus'', although some authorities regard it ...

(''Bubulcus ibis''),

great egret The great egret (''Ardea alba''), also known as the common egret, large egret, or (in the Old World) great white egret or great white heron is a large, widely distributed egret. The four subspecies are found in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and ...

(''Casmerodius albus''),

greater racket-tailed drongo The greater racket-tailed drongo (''Dicrurus paradiseus'') is a medium-sized Asian bird which is distinctive in having elongated outer tail feathers with webbing restricted to the tips. They are placed along with other drongos in the family Dic ...

(''Dicrurus paradiseus''),

jungle myna The jungle myna (''Acridotheres fuscus'') is a myna, a member of the starling family. It is found patchily distributed across much of the mainland of the Indian Subcontinent but absent in the arid zones of India. It is easily recognized by the ...

(''Acridotheres fuscus''), large blue flycatcher (''Cyornis magnirostris'') etc. A camera trap project in 2014 captured first ever live photo of clouded leopard in wild in Bangladesh. Also large blue flycatcher, a new bird species of the country was discovered.

Flora diversity

There are many important plants available in the Kaptai National Park such as kali garjan (''

Dipterocarpus turbinatus ''Dipterocarpus turbinatus'' ( Khmer ;DY PHON Pauline, 2000, Plants Used In Cambodia, self-published, printed by Imprimerie Olympic, Phnom Penh India ''gurjan'', ''gurjun'', ''gurgina''; Tagalog ; Chinese ; available at Efloras.org Malay lan ...

''), gutgutia (''Fortium serratum''), bohera (''Terminalia belerica''), pitali ('' Trewia nudiflora''), pitraj (''Aphanamixis polystachya''), jarul (''

Lagerstroemia speciosa ''Lagerstroemia speciosa'' (giant crepe-myrtle, Queen's crepe-myrtle, banabá plant, or pride of India) is a species of ''Lagerstroemia'' native to tropical southern Asia. It is a deciduous tree with bright pink to light purple flowers. Etymolo ...

''), chatim (Alstonia scholaris), ashok (Saraca indica), mehogoni (Swietenia mahagoni), toon (

Toona ciliata ''Toona ciliata'' is a forest tree in the mahogany family which grows throughout southern Asia from Afghanistan to Papua New Guinea and Australia. Names It is commonly known as the red cedar (a name shared by other trees), toon or toona (also ...

), dharmara ( Stereospermum personatum), udal (''

Sterculia villosa ''Sterculia villosa'', the hairy sterculia, or elephant rope tree, known vernacularly as Sardol, Udal, or Udar in Northeast India, is a medium-sized, monoecious tree. A leaf from this plant is characterized by a petiole about 25–40 cm l ...

''), civit ('' Swintonia floribunda''), bandorhola (''Duabanga grandiflora''), barmala ('' Callicarpa arbores''), amloki (''Phyllanthus embelica''), horitoki (''

Terminalia chebula ''Terminalia chebula'', commonly known as black- or chebulic myrobalan, is a species of ''Terminalia'', native to South Asia from India and Nepal east to southwest China (Yunnan), and south to Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Vietnam.Flora of China''Term ...

''), dhakijam (''Syzygium grande''), teak (''

''), sonalu (''

Cassia fistula ''Cassia fistula'', commonly known as golden shower, purging cassia, Indian laburnum, or pudding-pipe tree,U. S. Department of Agriculture, William Saunders; Catalogue of Economic Plants in the Collection of the U. S. Department of Agriculture; ...

''), champaphul (''

Michelia champaca ''Magnolia champaca'', known in English as champak (), is a large evergreen tree in the family Magnoliaceae.

''), bonsimul (''Salmalia insignis'') etc. It is especially famous for its Burmese teak plantations.

Threat assessment

The main threats to this NP are illicit felling of commercially important teak, intensive collection of fuel wood and over grazing of livestock. Fuel wood collection takes many forms, from collection of dead wood to harvesting of branches and whole stem which if not sustainably done may damage the ecological balance of this NP. Continuous droughts and civil strife have resulted in a large increase in the number of people along the boundaries of the park in the last three decades. Most of these people own livestock and engage in subsistence agriculture. The presence of large numbers of livestock has increased pressure on the national park.

Gallery

File:Kaptai National Park - Lake boat enjoy riding.jpg, Boats on the lake File:Kaptai1.jpg, The lake File:Tree in new leaves (Tectona grandis) I IMG 8133.jpg, A Teak tree File:കിന്നരിമൈന.jpg,

Jungle myna The jungle myna (''Acridotheres fuscus'') is a myna, a member of the starling family. It is found patchily distributed across much of the mainland of the Indian Subcontinent but absent in the arid zones of India. It is easily recognized by the ...

File:Elephants-1 by Joseph Lazer.jpg, Herd of wild elephants Fishing kaptai Lake.jpg, Fishing kaptai at Lake Tawny cat snake, Kaptai National Park.jpg,

Tawny cat snake ''Boiga ochracea'', commonly called the tawny cat snake, is a species of rear-fanged snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to South Asia. Geographic range ''B. ochracea'' is found in the Andaman Islands, Bangladesh, Bhutan, ...

Island of Kaptai Lake.jpg, Island in Kaptai Lake

References