In the morning of 22 August 2018, I woke up and looked at my watch dizzily and suddenly jumped out of my bed as if I saw a snake. The reason why it happened was that I got reminded of an appointment made to my friends the day before, to go on a picnic to Hlawga national park on Eid.
About Hlawga National Park
Hlawga national park is one of the recreation centres in Myanmar's capital for the wildlife enthusiasts, bird-watchers and holiday-makers. Many animals have been introduced here in order to maintain a sustainable environment and eco-system, but it's no way like an African wildlife park, which is brimming with wildlife and better sustainable measures. However, it is a sanctuary of a wide variety of forest birds, water birds, tortoise,monkeys, deer and is situated about 18 miles away from Yangon.
Meeting point
We had planned to gather in front of Shangri-La bus stop at 7:30 in the morning. I had already packed lunch, fruit juices and mineral water for myself the night before. My friends were already there when I arrived at the bus stop. They were ready with their backpacks and after a brief exchange of greetings, we soon boarded the bus heading to the national park. As there were just a few commuters on the bus during that hour, we easily got individual seats for ourselves. The bus started to run on the asphalt road towards the National park and in the middle of exchanging jokes and having a truly good time, we didn't realize when we reached the park. We deboarded the bus and chose to go to our destination on foot. As we all prefer walking to hiring cycle-taxi, it was not an issue.
Taking group photograph
After a 20-minute walk, we arrived at the entrance gate of Hlawga National park. We took a group-photo there with the huge elephant figure carved out of ivory in the background. While waiting in the queue to buy the admission and buggy/minibus tickets, we got some more time to click selfies.
Camp-1
Riding buggy through the forest was a very spectacular feeling. When it stopped at Camp-1, we disembarked it and took a trek from Camp-1 to Camp-2 by crossing the rope bridge, which linked these two camps.
The animals we sighted were mostly monkeys and few birds along the way. Monkeys were happy with people who fed them with banana, papaya, cucumber and snacks. Even I fed them with my meagre ration. The sight was a treat for bird-lovers too as many Asian birds could be spotted using the binoculars. There were many migratory birds too that inhabited the pond in the park during winter.
Camp-2
By afternoon, we reached Camp-2, where we took a break to have lunch. We chose a spot by the lake, quickly took out our foodstuff from our bags and laid them in front of us. Since we were famished, we took to it and ate it like ogres. Having a meal together with friends was a great fun. We sang songs together; played guitar and games and it helped us to reduce the anxiety and stress of our daily lives. My friends were really funny and I spent a quality time with them. I laughed for a long time at my friends' talks and their funny behaviour. I realized at that moment that true peace is happiness and I actually forgot the worries of the world for a while.
Say good-bye
At 4:00 PM, we returned to the entrance gate of the park by a minibus, which dropped us to the Htaunt Kyant bus station. From there, we took bus-37 to Yangon.
I hope that Hlawga National park is likely to become a popular tourist site for bird-watchers and cyclists in the near future. In addition to this, I want to warmly welcome the international tourist to pay a visit to Yangon city tour,bird-watching and cycling with me, which would be a worthwhile experience.