Flora

The country's tropical climate has fostered luxuriant vegetation. You will find trees of many kinds: from fruit trees-mango,lichi, banana, coconut and jackfruits-to commercially valuable trees like sundari, gewa, sal, and garyan. The World's largest mangrove swamp forest is the Sundarbans (located Southwest of Bangladesh) and it is the home of the Royal Bengal Tiger and sundari trees. UNESCO has declared the Sundarbans as a World Heritage Site.

Forested and wood areas amount to about one-eighth of the total area of the country.

Each season produces its special variety of flowers. The prolific Water Hyacinth looks like a carpet of thick green leaves and blue flowers, and gives the impression that a solid ground lies underneath. Other decorative plants include jasmine, water lily (national flower), rose, hibiscus, bougainvillea, magnolia, and an incredible diversity of wild orchids in the forest areas.

Fauna

Bangladesh boasts an unmatched number of birds and animals within its area of fifty-five thousand square miles. The country has 109 indigenous species of mammals, 684 types of birds, I 19 kinds of reptiles, 19 different amphibians, and 200 varieties of marine and freshwater fish.

Elephants, bears, bison and monkeys abound in the hill districts of Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban. Varied reptiles like the sea turtles, tortoises, crocodiles, pythons and cobras are can also be seen especially near the mangroves or sea beach.

An abundance of bird life makes Bangladesh an ornithologist's paradise. Among them are bulbul, magpie, robin, cuckoos, hawks, owls, crows, kingfishers, woodpeckers, parrots and myna. A wide variety of warblers are also found.

Climate & Seasons

The climate is sub-tropical with temperatures ranging from a daytime low of I rc in the cold season to a maximum of 40°C in the summer. Annual rainfall ranges from 160 cm to 200 cm. in the west, 200 cm. to 400 cm. in the south-east and 250 cm. to 400 cm. in the north-east mainly in the monsoon. The country enjoys mainly four seasons, the Winter (Dec-Feb), Summer (Mar-May), Monsoon Oun-Sept.) and Autumn (Oct-Nov).