Exploring Nature in Downtown Dhaka

Peaceful spot at the zoo

This weekend, Kim and I decided to explore the Botanical Gardens and the Zoo in Dhaka.  Dhaka is a pretty crazy city with at-times overwhelming traffic, pollution, and overcrowding, so it's especially nice to find quiet, green, and beautiful spaces.  These kinds of attractions are also a lot less commercial than zoos and gardens at home.  Admission to the gardens cost about 6 cents, and admission to the zoo cost about 12 cents.  They are next door to one another.  I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Lily pad pond in Botanical Gardens

There were young couples canoodling in quiet corners of the botanical gardens and families having picnics on blankets in the zoo.  It's fun to see those customs that are present in almost every culture.  In the botanical gardens there were people fishing and young boys playing and showing off in a small lake. They were eager to demonstrate their swimming skills for us.

Children playing in a small lake in the Botanical Gardens

At the zoo, there was a surprisingly large variety of animals, and most seemed be treated relatively well.  The barriers between people and humans were totally different than what you would see in an American zoo (I actually watched a man hand a soda to a baboon through the wide set bars; to be fair, the baboon seemed to really enjoy it.); security in general here is just a completely different concept.  There was even a hippo munching on his food only a few inches from gate.  I could have reached through and petted him!  The picture below is not using any zoom at all on my camera.

Hippo at the zoo so close I could have touched his snout!

We even got to see a Bengal tiger napping in the shade.  When we go to the Sundarbans in the south of Bangladesh, we might even see them in the wild, but there are only a few hundred left in Bangladesh and only a few thousand in the world.  

I'll definitely be returning to the gardens.  It's such a peaceful and beautiful spot.

Napping Bengal Tiger

In other news, today and tomorrow are hartal days again, meaning we are not permitted to go anywhere by car or leave the neighborhood where we live.  The opposition party is stil missing one of their leaders, and there is definitely some political tension.  In my personal opinion, the hartals are damaging to the economy, the people, and the image of Bangladesh, so I hope they stop soon.  I don't think it will be anything to be concerned about as far as our safety; we're just watching the news and trying to be flexible!