Introduction

Some 75km south of Sylhet, Srimangal (or Sreemongal) is the tea centre of Bangladesh. This hilly area, with tea estates, shade trees, lemon orchards and pineapple plantations everywhere, is one of the most picturesque parts of the country. For miles around you can see tea estates forming a perennially green carpet on the sloping hills. It's the one area besides the Sundarbans where in certain parts you can look around and not see a single human being. This is particularly true of the dense Lowacherra Forest Reserve, 8km east of town. In short, if you're feeling overwhelmed by people everywhere, spend a few days in Srimangal. Visits to the rainforest and several of the tea estates, plus the slightly cooler climate, are the main attractions, although getting here by train from Dhaka is often half the fun.

The town itself is quite small. A single road, the Dhaka-Sylhet Rd, passes from one end to the other, with a four-way intersection in the middle. While Srimangal is of no particular interest, it has the bare essentials, including several banks, a restaurant or two, a tourist information agency that rents out bikes and a handful of hotels. Also, the locals are quite friendly.

If you're lucky you might get to stay in a guesthouse. A number of companies and organisations have them, but you'll have no chance unless you book in advance, usually by contacting the company's head office in Dhaka or Chittagong. The luckiest ones are those who get invited to stay for free at one of the private tea estates, virtually all of which have tiny guesthouses.