Exploring the wilderness of Saingpra
The author describes a beautiful journey to the Saingpra Waterfalls in Bandarban
After a long journey at night, we reached Chakaria around dawn. Although winter was yet to come, the weather was chilly and misty.
From Chakaria, our destination was The Damtua Inn located in the Alikadam Upazila of Bandarban district.
Before the Alikadam- Thanchi road was constructed, commuting from Bandarban to Alikadam was more difficult than it is now.
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We got on a 'Chander Gari' (a local ride for the zigzag roads of Bandarban) and began our journey. After crossing a few check posts, we reached The Damtua Inn.
This was not our first trip to Alikadam, but the inn looked clean and the food quality was good.
We quickly freshened up and ate breakfast and soon hit the bumpy roads of Thanchi on another of the local rides.
The Alikadam-Thanchi road is considered as one of the highest and most beautiful roads of the country.
We crossed another check post and reached Dim Pahar, which is located in the middle of Alikadam and Thanchi.
Although on the first day our destination was Khemchong Para, we did not want to miss the chance to check out Dim Pahar.
This trekking area often has leeches, which is why we were all prepared and had small scissors in our hands to remove them if they got stuck to our skin.
We decided to head towards Saingpra from Khemchong Para the next day.
The trail was long and we had to rely on water from the bottles that we were carrying with ourselves. The scorching sun made us tired. On top, we had to carry heavy back-packs and constantly worry about leeches.
As soon as we could find a bit of shadow from trees, we would take some rest and then begin our journey again. On our way we saw many 100-year-old trees on the hilly roads.
In the evening we reached Khemchong Para.
There is a quiet and stunning Mro village in between the Kris Taung and Rung Rang Taung hills, around 2000 feet above the sea level.
Sun-kissed hills and trees create a spectacular ambience. When we laid to rest underneath a big tree, the sun had already set.
An arrangement was made for us to spend the night in the village.
Right after we settled in, we went on a quest to find a stream to have a bath and collect drinking water. We had to go deeper on the edge of the 'jhiri' to shower.
When we came back to the village, everybody gathered around the dim light to eat dinner.
Our friend Sharif somehow managed a massive hen for dinner which was fabulous.
Since we were tired and had plans to start for Saingpra in the morning, we went to bed right after dinner.
In the morning, we woke up before the sun rose and got ready in a hurry.
We had to climb the hills, leaving behind Khemchong Para.
After trekking for a while, we reached a narrow trail which was slippery and hence, quite risky. It would have been a wise decision if we had not brought our cameras.
Finally, after a long and difficult journey, we reached the edge of the mighty waterfall. It is impossible to describe its beauty in words.
Fine mist rising from the waterfall soaked us on our way back.
By the time we got back to the village, it was evening, and we spent the evening with the villagers.
Silence fell over the Rung Rang hill, which looked mighty and lonely. We witnessed the twilight while resting under a tree.
Except for the noise of the black deer, the world felt so quiet and peaceful that night. It was a different time in our lives.
