Tuesday 10 March 2015

Bangladesh Trip 19th Feb 2015 - Day 6




Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig at Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

On Thursday 19th February, our flight back to Dhaka from Cox's Bazar was at midday. So in the morning after our first and only breakfast of the trip, we got a rickshaw to the beach. Rupoz Sheikh came with us to try and reduce the hassle from people on the beach. This weekend is a bank holiday and should be one of the busiest of the year. 


Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig at Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

Instead, Cox's Bazar had been deserted for 6 weeks since the start of the serious hortals (violent forced strike days) when it's unsafe to go out. The beach traders were suffering especially those with animals to feed. These people are poor, so they don't have savings to see them through a long sustained period like this. The violence of the people calling the hortals is undemocratic and against the human rights of the penniless majority. Hortals are illegal in India and I hope the Courts in Bangladesh can do the do the same.


Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig at Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig


Cox's Bazar is still really beautiful and I'm sure that if you travel a couple of miles out of time, you'll have the beach to yourself except for the odd fisherman. The beach is 120 long, going all the way down to Teknaf at the tip of Bangladesh, bordering with Myanmar. It seemed a shame that I hadn't managed a swim in either the hotel pool or beach, but next time…


Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig at Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

After a few photos, we left feeling sad for the Bangladeshi people, to get our flight to Dhaka.


Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig at Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig


Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig at Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig


Our flight to Dhaka was on time and the mini-bus from our hotel, The Bengal Inn was waiting for us. The traffic was again light, probably because we were leading into the weekend.


Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
Photograph taken by and copyright Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig


Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig at Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig


Back at the Bengal Inn in Gulshan, Dhaka I stayed behind in our room to look at the notes for my talk, whilst Mum went to sort a few things out for my talk the next day. She arrived later with a pile of framed photos for the exhibition to go with the talk and then there was time for a late dinner and bed.

About the writer


Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig on Scilly
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig


Mya-Rose Craig is a 12 year old young birder, conservationist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world. She was the youngest person to see 3,000 birds in 2013 and she hopes to see her 4,000th bird in Antarctica, her 7th continent, in 2015. Please like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter












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