The name that recently comes up again and again in the list of mysterious places in Bangladesh is ‘Chikon Kala’ forest. And this ‘Chikon Kala’ forest is located with Nephew Para which is an eerily mysterious village located in the no man’s land on the border of Bangladesh and Myanmar.
In these forests, the calls of pigs, peacocks, tigers, cheetahs, and be**ars are often heard at night. According to the people of Nephew village, strange noises come from the forest at some unknown time of the year and no one who goes to the forest at that time never comes back. Their bodies get found much later in the forest, but without any signs of injury and so the cause of death remained unknown. Thus, locals lose three to four or even more people in these forests every year. Locals claim, this is still happening and so, generally, they avoid this forest especially from dusk to dawn.
17 December 2021, summiting ‘Saka Haphong (unofficially the highest peak of Bangladesh)’ and returning towar**ds Thanduipara, it will take about 17/18 hours to go. And on the journey, we will again encounter this terrible and mysterious ‘Chikon Kala’ forest. It was 07.00 pm when we reached the ‘chikon kala’ forest, but it felt like late night. With the tired body, hungry stomach, and sleepless eyes, I lost my way in this forest twice, although I found the way in a short time with the expertise of my friend Himu. It was 10.00 pm on the display of the mobile phone, everyone was lying down on the big boulder of Nephew Jhiri and just then there was a problem.
A cigarette fire seemed to be burning on the top of a half-bent tree on the other side of Nephew Jhiri, but in a moment, it was clear that so much smoke was not from the cigarette fire, and on looking a li**ttle closer I sensed the presence of something. Being a full moon night, everything is quite clear without the light of torches, and some say snakes, some say cats, some see the head of a human child, and one hears strange sounds, though none of us could hear anything together. In a quick decision, we crossed the Jhiri and realized that the air was heavy with the smell of incense, and in any way, we couldn’t wait here for long. Everyone is running, I am also running with Tarek bhai as fast as I can, destination Thanduipara where we reach in the early hours of morning of December 18 (05.00 am), 2021.
Hardest way ever, fear of Arakan Army, terrifying mysterious ‘Chikon Kala’ forest and 31 hours of inhuman**labor is the pillar of achievement of summiting ‘Saka Haphong’.
