Swarupkathi (administrative name: Nesarabad) is a subdistrict of Pirojpur district, which is located in the southern division of Barishal in Bangladesh. Geographically Swarupkathi is located in the active part of the Ganges-Brahmaputra river delta, which is the largest delta on earth. As a result, Swarupkathi is a maze of canals, surrounded by wide rivers at all sides.
A video created by me while travelling in the canals of Swarupkathi in 2018
Swarupkathi is popular among travellers of Bangladesh and abroad for the guava gardens, floating guava and vegetable markets, freshwater canal trips and also the wooden boat and timber markets. Swarupkathi is also known for the Sarsina Darbar Sharif, which is a religious institution established by Shah Sufi Nesaruddin Ahmed in 1915.
But there is another place which is gaining popularity among travellers for its beauty is the plant nurseries of Swarupkathi. These nurseries are located in mainly Alangkarkathi and Sangitkathi village. Although these nurseries mainly produce woody plants and fruit plants, during winter they get filled with colourfull flower plants, which is an incredible sight to see.
In December last year in 2021, I went to trip to explore the flower nurseries of Swarupkathi along with some of my family members. We started our journey from Miarhat, Swarupkathi at about 4 PM on a trawler. We travelled on the river âShandhaâ and reached our destination in 25 minutes. Then we left the boat and entered one of the flower nurseries. The first nursery had many colourful flower plants and saplings which were arranged in rows. All of us were amazed by the scenery of the flower nurseries.
The nurseries of Alangkarkathi village are located on the side of Swarupkathi-Barishal road. We managed to visit multiple nurseries before sunset. One of the nurseries were most notable, itâs name was âAdarsha Nurseryâ. The word âAdarshaâ means ideal, and truly that nursery was an ideal nursery because it was so well decorated and beautifully organised. No wonder that this well maintained nursery was awarded gold medel by the government officials.
Check out my review of M/S Adarsha Nursery on Google Maps
We purchased some flower saplings from the nursery. There were wide variety of plants in the nursery, some of them were rare and expensive too. After purchasing the flower plants, we returned to our boat to head back to Miarhat. On our way back, we stopped at Swarupkathi Bazar to buy sweets from Satkhira Ghosh Mistanno Vander which is a renowned sweetmeat shop in Swarupkathi.
How to go:
-
From Dhaka: via Launch bound to Bhandaria from Sadarghat or via bus bound to Swarupkathi from Saydabad. You can also go to Barishal first via launch, bus or aircraft and then go to Swarupkathi.
-
From Barishal: via bus bound to Swarupkathi from Nathullabad bus terminal.
-
From Khulna: first you have to go to Pirojpur via bus from Sonadanga or Rupsha bus terminal. Then you have to take another bus to Swarupkathi from Pirojpur bus terminal.
Best time to visit the flower nurseries: December and January.
Click here to read my connect post about my visit to the flower gardens of Godkhali, Jashore, Bangladesh.
Thanks for reading the post. Write in the comments if you need further information about Swarupkathiâs beautiful flower nurseries and also write about how you feel about it. As the Omicron variant of coronavirus is spreading very rapidly accross the globe and as well as in Bangladesh, please take necessary precautions while travelling. Avoid unnecessary travels for now, maintain social distancing if possible and wear mask while being outside, take COVID-19 vaccine or register for vaccination. Stay safe everyone!
This post is part of the challenge Gems of the World - A Connect Travel Post Challenge started by @KashifMisidia
#GemsOfTheWorld #ConnectTravelChallenge