Nijhum Dwip

Nijhum Dwip, meaning Silent Island (Bengali: নিঝুম দ্বীপ), is a small island near Hatiya upazila. It is situated in Noakhali District in Bangladesh. Once it was called as Char Osman.

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 could be the next prime tourist spot after St. Martins Island. It has mangrove forests where you will find deer and monkeys. A huge number of migratory birds come to this island in winter, enhancing the beauty of this island. Nijhum Dwip is not easy to get to but its beauty makes a journey here well worth it.

Understand
This island was settled in 1969 and subsequently the forest department under took a massive drive for reforestation 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 the 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. NGOs like Red Crescent, Proshika, Human Development centre and JAICA are involved with their development projects on this island. Due to its rich natural and biodiversifical 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.

Get in
You can go to this Island either from Dhaka or from Chittagong. From Chittagong first you will to go Hatia Island by boat and from there you can go to Nijhum Island by local motor boat. From Dhaka you can go Tomzuddion by launch from Sadarghat launch terminal. From there you can go to Nijhum Island by local motorboat.

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

Sleep
Accommodation is very limited for the tourists in this Island. You can take foods from local restaurants but be careful about the quality of foods. If you can take prior permission for forest department then you can stay in forest rest house in Nijhum Island. Another possibility for accommodation is in District Parishod Guest house. If you take the permission from Thana administration (TNO) of Hatia you can also stay in the District Parishod Guest house.