Nijhum Island Bangladesh

This virgin new island of Nijhum Dwip raised on the estuary of the great Meghna channel in the mouth of The Bay of Bengal. The geographical location has been identified just 2 kilometers south west of Hatia under Noakhali district. This newly accredited island may be called as cluster of islands consist of more than 4-5 small islands like Char Osman, Char Kamla, Corner of Char Osman and isolated from the mainland by Hatia channel.

This island was brought under settlement during 1969 and subsequently the forest department under took massive drive for aforestation by mangrove species. Now this island has been declared as the unique eco-touristic spot for its ideal natural setup with the rich biodiversification factors and the perennial mangrove forest with wild animals like spotted deer, wild boar and rhesus macaque and for the ideal habitat for fish resources. Since south coast is open to the mouth of great span of Bay of Bengal, the appearance of whale sometimes occurred. There are more than eight (8) thousand inhabitants found their permanent settlement in the island and their occupation are mainly cultivation and fishing. There are some NGO like Red Crescent, Proshika, Human Development centre and JAICA are involved with their development projects on this island. Due to its rich natural and biodiversical factors, the touristic potentiality have enormously enhanced. In spite of difficult access and lack of good residential facilities, a few thousand enthusiastic local tourists visit this island during winter every year.

Since there is no regular river transport or passenger route from Dhaka to Nijhum Dwip, it is difficult to organize direct tour program from Dhaka to Nijhum Dwip and Kuakata beach through coastal water ways. The main problem is that there is no navigation light and lusider, there are hundreds of submerged islands due to the constant deposition of silt through the Megna estuary.