There are just 700 of the animals left on the planet, all of them living in the volcanic mountains spanning Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Decades of conflict in the region, along with poaching and human encroachment on their habitat have threatened their very survival.

But money from ‘gorilla tourism’ has helped Rwanda reverse the trend of the shrinking population, with a small increase in mountain gorillas over the past five years.

The money is funding work to protect their forest habitat and anti-poaching patrols.

“We need the visitors because it is their money that helps to save the gorillas,” said gorilla guide Kwizera Diogene.

One of the many women employed to make souvenirs for gorilla tourists

Rwanda is successfully conducting a delicate balancing act – restricting the number of visitors to ensure the gorillas are not disturbed but letting enough in to fund their protection.

Each group of gorillas is visited for just one hour a day by a maximum of eight tourists. Trips cost £300.

Sky News joined one of the treks, high up into the Volcano national park in the north east of Rwanda.

The gorillas are very curious and don’t seem to mind visitors

Deep in the forest we found a group of 20 silverbacks, with one huge male lounging on his side with a young gorilla clambering over him. He glanced at us, grunted, and then went back to munching a piece of tree bark.

Coming face to face with the gorillas is a remarkable experience.

In their eyes you sense some kind of recognition, and some of the young males were so curious that they wandered over to get a close look at us, brushing past our legs.

Sky’s Emma Hurd talking to two former gorilla poachers

“It was amazing to get so close,” said American tourist Carol Hart said. “It cost a lot of money but it was worth it.”

Gorilla tourism is worth £3m a year to Rwanda and has created thousands of jobs.

Even former poachers like Anastase gasaga now recognise the animals are worth more alive than dead.

“I make money helping the foreigners see the gorillas, so I don’t need to poach anymore,” he said.

The District of Mymensingh is situated between 24°02‘03″ and 25°25‘56″ north latitude and 89°39‘00″ and 91°15‘35″ east longitude. According to the latest report received (1971) from the director, Land Records and Survey, it comprises an area of 5,039.76 square miles (13,052.92 km²). Mymensingh city is situated within Mymensingh Upazilla which is a sub-district.

The city has no officially defined geographical limits. The actual city area is larger than the Municipal area. Since 1980s the city has expanded with fast urbanization. Mymensingh city is clearly marked by the old Brahmaputra river flowing along its north. Some other different ends of the city are marked respectively by the beginning of the Agricultural University campus, the Medical College, Army cantonment and, finally, Sultanabad, a township built for the followers of Aga Khan. A railway line connecting Dhaka with northern districts, built between 1885 and 1899,^[12] passes through the city and divides it into two sides.

Climate and weather

The climate of Mymensingh is moderate. However for proximity of the Himalayas, it feels much colder than Dhaka. The monsoon starts in May or June and continues till August. It rains heavily and sometimes for days and weeks. During the monsoon, the temperature varies between 15 and 20 degrees. The temperature falls below 15 °C (59 °F) in winter which is spread over December and January and may well include November and February. Highest temperature is felt during April-May period when the temperature may be as high as 40 degrees. High humidity causes huge sweating during this period. For Western travelers, the best time to visit is between November and February.

The fort complex is located in the northwestern part of Dhaka on the banks of the Buriganga River. Prince Muhammad Azam, son of Emperor Aurangzeb, began the construction while he was serving as the Viceroy of Bengal. Governor Nawab Shaista Khan continued the project after Prince Azam was recalled to assist his father in the war against the Marhattas. It is commonly believed that the premature death of his favorite daughter, Iran-Dukht, popularly known as Bibi Pari, caused the suspension of the project. She was betrothed to Prince Azam, and upon her death, Nawab Shaista considered it inauspicious to continue the project.

The rectangular fort encompasses an area of 1082′ x 800′. Only some gateways and a long fortification wall with semi-octagonal bastions on the south side and high defense walls running along the western side remain. The two monumental gateways at the southeast and northeast ends face each other at a distance of 800′.

The southeastern gateway is a majestic structure built in the Mughal style. It was intended to be three storeys, but the upper storey was never completed. The inner facade has a four-centered archway with deep plastered semi-octagonal alcoves on either side. Short octagonal minarets define edges. The outer facade also has a four-centered archway flanked with plastered semi-octagonal alcoves. Above each alcove there is an oriel window in two stages that is capped by an elegant cupola. The central archway leads to a square domed hall with guardrooms on either side.

It appears that the defensive walls were reinforced by an internal embankment of earth along the east portion of the southwest corner. It contains an underground room, which may have been used as a summerhouse. The entrance is under a half-dome, which is decorated with ornamental plaster-cut work.

It is situated at Mirpur, about 16 km NW of Dhaka and accessible by road.

Total area is 84 hectare, established in 1961.

The garden is well planned and provides learning and recreational facilities adjacent to the Zoo. It is divided into 57 sections, and is managed by Forest Department under Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of Bangladesh.

The garden houses about 56,000 individual of trees, herbs, and shrubs including huge collection of aquatic plants. Many exotic plants have been introduced in the garden and are routinely propagated under the local climatic conditions. Rare and exotic plants of 60 species are found in the garden include Anthurium (Anthurium crystallinum), Camphor (Cinamomum camphora), Rabbit Fern (Davallia canariensis), Dambia (Dombeya spectabilis), white ‘Rangan’ (Ixora superba), little Mussanda (Mussaenda luteola), Amazon Lily (Victoria amazonica), ‘Harhjora’ (Vitis quadrangularis), African Tulip (Spathodea campanulata), Sambucuas (Sambucus nigra), white ‘Chandan’ (Santalum album), etc.

A modern vegetative propagation arrangement and a tissue culture laboratory have been established in the garden for propagation of rare species. Initially, tissue culture of orchids and other rare species have been adopted. Besides, a huge rose garden, criss-crossing lake, watch deck, artificial water fall, bridge over the lake and above all the thousands of migratory birds in winter are the main attractions of the National Botanical Garden.

The forest is accessible by river from Khulna and Mongla. There are rest houses for the visitors to stay and enjoy the unspoiled nature with all its charm and majesty. Spending some times inside the forest can be a rare treat for the lovers of nature. BPC offers package tours to Sundarbans.

This 3rd century BC archaeological site is still held to be of great sanctity by the Hindus. Every year (mid-April) and once in every 12 years (December) thousands of Hindu devotees join the bathing ceremony on the bank of river Karatoa. A visit to the Mahasthangarh site museum will open up for one a wide variety of antiquities, ranging from terracotta objects to gold ornaments and coins recovered from the site.

Also noteworthy are the shrine of Shah Sultan Bulki Mahisawary and Gokul Medh in the neighborhood of Mahasthangarh.

Salban Vihara, almost in the middle of the Mainamati-Lalmai hill range consists of 115 cells, built around a spacious courtyard with cruciform temple in the centre facing its only gateway complex to the north resembling that of the Paharpur Monastery.

Kotila Mura situated on a flaftened hillock, about 5 km north of Salban Vihara inside the Comilla Cantonment are is picturesque Buddhist establishment. Here three stupas are found side by side representing the Buddhist “Trinity” or three jewels i.e. the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

Charpatra Mura is an isolated small oblong shrinesituated about 2.5 krn. north-west of kotila Mura stupas. The only approach to the shrine is from the East through agateway which leads to a spacious hall.

The Mainamati site Museum has a rich and varied collection of copper plates, gold and silver coins and 86 bronze objects. Over 150 bronze statues havo been recovered mostly from the monastic cells, bronze stupas, stone sculptures and hundreds of terracotta plaques each measuring on an average of 9″ higli and 8″ to 12″ wide. Mairiamati is only 114 km. from Dhaka City and is just a day’s trip by road on way to Chittagong.

Kuakata, locally known as Sagar Kannya (Daughter of the Sea) is a rare scenic beauty spot on the southernmost tip of Bangladesh. Kuakata in Latachapli union under Kalapara Police Station of Patuakhali district is about 30 km in length and 6 km in breadth. It is 70 km from Patuakhali district headquarters and 320 km from Dhaka. At Kuakata excellent combination of the picturesque natural beauty, sandy beach, blue sky, huge expanse of water of the Bay and evergreen forest in really eye-catching.

Kuakata is one of the rarest places which has the unique beauty of offering the full view of the rising and setting of crimson sun in the water of the Bay of Bengal in a calm environment. That perhaps makes kuakata one of the world’s unique beaches. The long and wide beach at Kuakata has a typical natural setting. This sandy beach has gentle slopes into the Bay of Bengal and bathing there is as pleasant as is walking or diving. Kuakata is truly a virgin beach-a sanctuary for migratory winter birds, a series of coconut trees, sandy beach of blue Bay, a feast for the eye. Forest, boats plying in the Bay of Bengal with colourful sails, fishing, towering cliffs, surfing waves everything here touches every visitor’s heart. The unique customs and costumes of the ‘Rakhyne’ tribal families and Buddhist Temple of about hundred years old indicate the ancient tradition and cultural heritage, which are objects of great pleasure Kuakata is the place of pilgrimage of the Hindus and Buddhist communities. Innumerable devotees arrive here at the festival of ‘Rush Purnima’ and ‘Maghi Purnima’. On these two days they take holy bath and traditional fairs are held here. All these additional offers to panoramic beauty make the beach more attractive to the visitors. One should visit Kuakata and discover the lovely grace of Bangladesh.

The study, compiled over a two-year period by the Centre for Responsible Travel (CREST) at Stanford University in California, examines the problems inherent in the Costa Rican tourism model, particularly the uncontrolled sprawl of holiday resorts and homes.

‘The priority is to get rich, no matter who gets trampled on in the process,’ Gady Amit, head of the environmental organisation Confraternidad Guanacasteca, told IPS.

The growth of infrastructure for the tourism industry has caused irreversible damage to the northwestern province of Guanacaste, bathed by the Pacific ocean, and runs counter to the tenets of ‘green tourism’, a major attraction for visitors to Costa Rica.

The voracity of the construction boom is also threatening the Osa peninsula, on the south Pacific coast, one of the 25 most biodiverse places on the planet, home to 2.5 percent of the world’s species. ‘It’s a treasure trove of unusual biodiversity, one of very few such places remaining in the world,’ said CREST advisory board member Margarita Penón.

The study titled ‘The Impact of Tourism Related Development along Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast’ was presented in San José this month by CREST director William Durham and several of the researchers involved. It recommends ‘rethinking’ the development of tourism and associated infrastructure, before it is too late.

But the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT), a government body which oversees the sector, disagrees with some of the report’s assertions.

María Amalia Revelo, deputy manager and marketing director of ICT, told IPS that the model for developing domestic tourism has been based, for the last 15 years, ‘on small accommodation units, complemented with medium-sized hotels.’

The average is 17 rooms per hotel, ‘which indicates that the country’s tourism model has been sustained over time,’ she said.

Revelo admitted that there are some big hotels on the Pacific coast, but said they are not the norm, and that ‘big does not necessarily mean bad.’ In her view, the country has managed to balance both types of hotel.

But local environmentalists concur with CREST that the main problem is in the real estate sector, which is putting up large housing developments, golf courses and shopping centres on the coastline itself.

‘The hotel sector at least provides jobs, whereas residential developments, once construction is finished, do not,’ said Amit.

The study emphasises that excessive development will condemn the coastal area to landslides, pollution and damage to the mangrove, coral reef and forest ecosystems, as well as to shortages of drinking water in future.

In fact, some local towns are already having problems with water supply as a result of high levels of consumption by tourists and golf courses. The community of Sardinal in Guanacaste province is in open conflict with the central government over its water rights.

In other places, like Tamarindo, home purchases by residential holiday makers have displaced the local residents. ‘There are no people left, and hardly any businesses,’ Amit said.

The reason is that prices of land, houses and services have soared beyond the reach of the pockets of most Costa Ricans.

On the Papagayo peninsula, one of the main tourism-real estate development poles in the country, land used to cost 100 dollars a hectare, but nowadays ‘that money would only buy you one square metre,’ Amit said.

Furthermore, the overpopulation associated with unplanned development has dramatically increased coastal pollution.

‘People are bathing in pure sh*t,’ Amit said bluntly.

The beach at Tamarindo has had to be closed on several occasions because of the health risk posed by high counts of faecal bacteria. The huge hotel and residential complexes have no treatment facilities for their waste water – or if they do have treatment plants, they hardly use them in order to save on maintenance costs.

Meanwhile, in Osa ‘the threat is looming ever closer,’ said Merlyn Oviedo, who owns a small hotel in Puerto Jiménez, a rare showcase of humid tropical ecosystems.

He said tourist agents on the peninsula feel that the natural habitats they depend on are endangered by a kind of development that is diametrically opposed to ecotourism.

New highways have been built linking the capital, San José, and the central Pacific region with Osa, in the extreme south of Puntarenas province. Easy access and a shorter journey will bring yet more tourists to this area, described as Costa Rica’s last wilderness frontier.

‘We want this infrastructure, but it’s scary to think what it might bring,’ said Oviedo, mentioning as a negative example a ‘huge highway’ that comes to within three kilometres of his property.

Plans to convert the local airport in Osa into an international airport triggered alarm. CREST’s director emphatically recommended ditching the idea, because it would lead to ‘monstrous’ and predatory development. ‘The threat would be enormous,’ Oviedo agreed.

ICT’s Ravelo denied that the pattern seen in Guanacaste would be imitated at Osa, because the two ecosystems and what they have to offer are very different. The Osa peninsula has a variety of rainforests and wetlands, while in the north dry tropical landscapes predominate.

The study is critical of the lack of regulation and land use planning, and of the absence of coordination between the 35 bodies involved in granting permits for real estate development and tourism projects along the Pacific shoreline.

The report confirms that two different interests are increasingly at loggerheads in Costa Rica: the tourism sector, which brings in two billion dollars annually and welcomes two million visitors a year, and environmental conservation in a country of just over 51,000 square kilometres that harbours 4.5 percent of global biodiversity.