Expedition Sippi-Arsuang Mountain Trail (896 meter)

Contents

Introduction 02

Acknowledgement 02

Expedition Team 03

Routes

Proposed Route 03

Actual Route 04

Logistics

Transportation 06

Accommodation 06

Food 06

First Aid & Injuries 06

Medication Checklist 06

Equipment Checklist 07

Day By Day Expedition Log 08

Expedition Accounts 10

The Natural Environment 10

References 10

Expedition Photo 11

EXPEDITION SIPPI-ARSUANG (896 METER)-2015

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Introduction The main objective of this expedition was to summit Sippi/Arsuang peak which is located in the Rowangchori union of Bandarban district in Bangladesh. it is the highest peak of Rowangchori and one of the remote and less explored peak of Bangfladesh. This is peak is also called "Ramjhum" or "Ramju Tlang" in Bawm tribal language. According to Project Banglatrek [1], the peak has a height of 896 meter or 2947 feet. On 23rd February, 2008 a trekking club of Bangladesh named “Nature Adventure Club” climbed over it and measured the peak. They claimed the height as 3028 feet. Initially our plan was to enter Rowangchori through Bandarban district in early morning and start trekking. But Transportation strike of 1st May and heavy rainfall in the morning, cost us some time initially. The trail was bit difficult in this hot and humid summer. On the summit point, thundering storm make it more tougher as leeches and slippery trail cost us some damages and injury.

Acknowledgements The expedition members would like to thank all the people who helped us to make it a success. However it is a self-funded expedition and we did not look for any commercial sponsors. We would like to thank the local villagers of "Paikkhyang Para" and "Ronin Para". Our special thanks goes to Mr. James and Mr. Peter, local headman of Paikkhyang Para who helped us to stay one night at his house. The team of "Vertical Dreamers" helps us to make those arrangements. We are also thankful to Mr Jameson of Ronin Para. Their Local club arranged us some logistics for the summit. Our thanks goes to Patung, who guided us and make our own way cutting those dense bamboo and grass fields. Special thanks to Ucha Thui Marma, who travelled from Komlachori Para to join us for the whole trip.

Contact details For further information on this expedition, please contact:

A.S.M. Jiaul Hoque [email protected] +88-017-37346301 www.jiaulhoque.com www.facebook.com/jiaul hoque


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Expedition Team The expedition team consist of two person. One of them is new to his trekking and adventure activities. It is his first trekking experience and he have enjoyed it well. The other member have some previous experience on trekking and climbing in the remote hill tracks and other parts of Bangladesh.

A.S.M. Jiaul Hoque - Expedition planner and route maker Trekking and adventure activist for the past 5 years. Completed several adventure activities in the remote hill tracks and the southern parts of the country. Navid Rijoan - Expedition Member First time in his trekking experience and overcomes lots of challenges mentally and physically throughout the trip.

Routes Proposed Route

Day-1 : Dhaka-Bandarban Day-2 : Bandarban-Rowangchori- Bangchori - Ongjai Para - Tarasa Para Day-3 : Tarasa Para - Protigga Para - Pankhuri Para - Sippi Para Day-4 : Sippi Para - Sippi/Arsuang Summit - Ronin Para - Paikkhyang Para - Keoplang Para - Rowangchori - Bandarban Day-5 : Bandarban - Dhaka

Map Courtesy : Project Banglatrek


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Actual Route

Day-1 : Dhaka - Chittagong - Keranirhat - Bandarban Day-2 : Chittagong - Keranirhat - Bandarban - Rowangchori - Keoplang Para - Paikkhyang Para Day-3 : Paikkhyang Para - Ronin Para - Sippi/Arsuang Summit - Ronin Para Day-4 : Ronin Para - Munam Para - Lunglai Para - Bangchori - Rowangchori - Bandarban Day-5 : Bandarban - Dhaka

Map Courtesy : US Army 1:250k topographic map


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Map Courtesy : Russian 1:200k topographic map

Map Courtesy : Google topographic map


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Logistics Transportation

From Destination Transport Dhaka Chittagong Intercity train (Mahanagar Provati)

Chittagong Keranirhat Local Bus Keranirhat Bandarban Local Service Microbus Bandarban Rowangchori Local Bus

Rowangchori Bandarban Motor Bike Bandarban Dhaka Intercity Bus (Shyamoli Poribohon)

Accommodation We spent our nights at local villages. Our first night accommodation was at the house of Mr Peter Bawm, Karbari of the Paikkhyang Para. We spent our second night at Mr Jameson's house at Ronin Para.

Food

Each member contains a food pack for emergencies. We managed to reach a village and got some local food. The food pack contains necessary things for two days:

1) Dry Date (250 mg) 2) Raisin (100 gm) 3) Peanut Bar (5 pcs) 4) Instant Noodles (8 Pack) 5) Instant Soup (3 Pack) 6) 3-in-1 Coffee (5 pcs) 7) Water (1.5 Lit each) 8) Cooking materials (Penny Stove, Stove stand, Reducer & 50ml methylated spirit)

First Aid and Injuries Due to the remote location of the expedition it was important that any minor medical problems could be dealt with by the team and hence an extensive medical kit was produced.There were no notable injuries or illnesses during the trip with team members suffering only minor muscle cramp. Leeches infection was treated with cottons and medicine. Small cuts were treated using antibacterial cream to prevent any further infection.

Medication Checklist Anti-Allergies (Loratadine) Anti-bug Cream (Odomos) Anti-Cold Fever (Histacine) Anti-Cough Medicine Anti-Fever (Napa/Paracetamol) Anti-Gas (Antacid) Anti-Headache ( Aspirin)


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Anti-Infection (Nebalon Powder) Anti-Muscle Pain (Tolperisone Hydrochloride/Clofenac) Anti-septic Cream (Savlon/Povisep) Bandages Cotton First Aid Guide Book Gastric/Pain Killer Pre-Requisite (Omeprazole) Mouth Mask Pain Killer (Aceclofenac) Paper Soap Saline Scissor, Blade, Small Knife, Tweezers, Cotton Bar, Toothpick, Safety Pin, James

Clip Sewing Knit And Needle Sunscreen Lotion Thermometer Water Filtering Tablet

Equipment Checklist 10 Port USB Cable+ Battery Charger 6" Knife Anklet + Knee Cap Backpack With Rain Cover Cades/Sandal + Socks Camera : Canon PowerShot A2500 Extra Cloth 1set (3 In 1 Trouser + T-shirt) Extra Underwear & Socks (1 Set) Gamcha Headlight + Extra Battery Inflatable Pillow Lighter Log Book + Pen Mobile Phone (regular & emergency) Para cord (156 Feet) Poly bag (Small/Large) Portable Day Pack Portable Water Bottle Sleeping Bag Spoon Set Sun Cap Toilet Tissue-1 Roll Toothbrush & Toothpaste Water Bottle Waterproof Mobile Phone Carrier Whistle Zip Lock Poly Bag


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Expedition Log Day-1 : 30-04-2015, Thursday - Journey Starts

It was 6 pm and our train still didn't arrive. Although the schedule time was 5 pm but the train came around 6.15 pm. We are heading towards Chittagong. The schedule arrival time was 11 pm. So our initial plan was to stay night hold at Chittagong and leave early morning towards Bandarban. But slow progress of the railway cost us some time. We reached Chittagong on dawn around 5 am with heavy rainfall in the city.

Day-2 : 01-05-2015, Friday - Full Day trekking

Today is a government holiday, International Labor Day, as well as weekly holiday. We ran towards shelter for the heavy rainfall. We found only one local restaurant open in this early dawn. We took some breakfast. They were in hurry closing the restaurant because of the labor day strike. We grab a bus from the new market area which was heading towards Muradpur. From there we took a rickshaw and reached Baddarhat bus stand. Some issues of uncertainty was waiting for us. All the bus services of the city were closed until evening. We went to Notun Bridge bus stand and grab a local bus heading towards Keranirhat. From Keranirhat, we found a local service microbus shouting for people to go Bandarban. We reached Bandarban around 11 am. Reaching Bandarban we went to Rowangchori bus stand. It took one hour to reach Rowangchori. Ucha Thui was supposed to wait for us at Rowangchori, but due to some miss understanding he went to Bandarban. So we had to wait for him another one hour in Rowangchori. During this time, it starts rain again. We took our lunch in a local restaurant. We start our trekking after Ucha Thui arrived. It was 2 pm by then. We are already far behind our planned schedule. Initially our plan was to enter Sippi trail through Sippi Para through Protigga Para and stay first night at Tarasa Para. This plan was based on the Summit Expedition of Travelers of Bangladesh on 2014 [2]. But as we were behind our schedule and heavy rainfall might make the Jhiripoth inaccessible, we had to took the alternate way. We reached Keoplang para after 3 hours trekking. From there it is 1 hour trek to Paikkhyang Para. When we reached Paikkhyang Para, it was almost dark. We met the team of Vertical Dreamers, who came to Paikkhyang Para to enjoy the full moon night. We managed the house of Peter Bawm, local Karbari of the village to stay the night.

Day-3 : 02-05-2015, Saturday - The day of summit

We left Paikkhyang Para very early in the morning. We tried to give some money against the hospitality of Mr Peter, but he refused to take. We went to Ronin Para after 2 hours of trekking. There is a Army Camp on the way to Ronin Para. Rules for the trekker is to take permission from the camp for further ahead. We took some tea and prepared ourselves for the Sippi peak. Our plan was to reach Sippi Para from the summit and stay night hold. But suddenly Rijoan had some serious muscle pain. So we decided not to take him for the summit rather some rest might help him. We also changed our plan and decided to stay night at Ronin Para. We took a local cutter to


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cut the dense jungle on the trail. We left our backpack and start trekking towards the summit point.

Initially the trail was easy. But as we progress further, the trail gets difficult. Besides, this year villagers did not make "joom" (Cultivation of crops it the hill) here. So, trail becomes dense jungle. We were heading upper and upper. Our progress becomes slow as we had to cut down so many bamboo and other big grasses and make our own way. We took some jungle fruits as we were very hungry. Nearer to the summit point, we found a joom house. We took some rest here as we fall in asleep regarding the tiredness. After half an hour we started our summit push. All of a sudden, cloud cover the whole area and wind started to flow. It was obvious that a storm is coming. We started looking for a shelter but there was none. We walked quickly towards summit point. Rain starts heavily and suddenly thundering storm started to blow. We found some bamboo trees where we took a shelter. We were afraid because thundering was falling heavily. Suddenly some thunder strikes very near to us and we feel all the mountain is shacking. We switched off all our electronics gadgets. After the rain stops, we were feeling hypothermia. It was due to continuous rain and heavy wind. We started walking again when the rain stops. It was not far from our temporary shelter. We reached to the summit point and rise the National Flag of Bangladesh. View from the top was excellent as we could see the mountain ranges of Mizoram in India.

After passing half an hour we started heading back. The return trail was more difficult because trail gets more sleeper. We were infected by heavy Leeches. When we returned Ronin Para it was dark outside. We were very hungry. We took some food and started looking at our physical damages. It was heavy leech attack and could not stop the blood flow. Taking some medicine we prepared for the night hold at the house of Mr Jameson.

Day-4 : 03-05-2015, Sunday - Return Trekking

Today is Buddha Purnima, the holy festival of Buddhist. We left Ronin Para around 10 am. We started trekking towards Munam Para. The sun burning heavily. We cross a beautiful bamboo bridge. Suddenly we lost our way. We could see the village on the other side of the but could not find a way to cross the mountain. After sparing some time we found a way. We took some rest on a local tea stall at the Para and refill our water bottles and saline. Our next destination is Lunglai Para. It was an idle evening in Lunglai Para as it is sunday, rest day for the mountain peoples. Here we ate a juicy Papaya in a local tea stall. We headed towards Bangchori which is another 3 hour trekking. Around 5 pm we reached Bangchori. The last bus towards Bandarban from Rowangchori was already gone then. We headed towards Rowangchori and after an hour walk we reached to the Rowangchori bus station. It was already dark outside. We were very hungry and took our dinner in a local restaurant. We hired two motor bikes to reach Bandarban. It was a memorable bike ride in the mountain road with full moon. Our bus left around 11 pm towards Dhaka.


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Expedition Accounts The expedition was self-funded and we didn't took any grants from any organization. This generosity meant that the trip costs per person were only BDT 1437.50, a figure we considered very reasonable given our location, transport and the length of the trip. Item Expenditure (BDT) Income (BDT) Transportation 2800.00 Food 947.00 Accommodation 500.00 Guide 1500.00 Total Expenditure 5747.00 Item Expenditure (BDT) Income (BDT) A.S.M. Jiaul Hoque 2873.50 Navid Rijoan 2873.50 Total Income 5747.00

The Natural Environment The region is full of natural beauty with a variation of many species of flora. The forest is full of valuable trees. It is a good source of several wood and other fruits item, which is a good source of income for the local villagers. However, it is also enrich of several animals species. Barking Deer, Asian Black Beer, Wild Pig and lots of birds and reptiles are the main attraction. The mountain itself is the source of income for the tribal peoples. They cultivate rice and other crops through joom cultivation. Also several cultivated and jungle fruits are also seen in the trail.

References [1] Project Banglatrek, www.banglatrek.org

[2] Sippi Arsuang Expedition Report-2014, Travelers of Bangladesh


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Expedition Photo


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Expedition Sippi-Arsuang Mountain Trail (896 meter)

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