6 May
Heading to Meinmahla Island
I paid a visit to Bogale in January 2019 together with writer Dr. Myint Than (Nyaun-glebin) to give talks about dan-ger of narcotic drugs and raising knowledge about education and health matters at the invitation of Bogale Township Administrator U Aung Zin Oo.
After the talks, we were transported to Meinmahla Island in order to observe an ecosystem of mangrove forest.
We took about three hours along the way to Meinmahla Is-land by speed-boat. I would like to express thanks to those who explained facts about the Flyway Site Network of Meinmahla Is-land wildlife sanctuary.
Meinmahla Island wildlife sanctuary
Meinmahla Island wildlife sanctuary established in 1994 is located on 52.78 square miles (33,336 acres) of land in Bogale Township of Pyapon District in Ayeyawady Region. It is combined with two environmental conservation areas of Ayeyawady Region.
The wildlife sanctuary pre-vents inflow of seawater which may cause damage to farmlands of Ayeyawady Region where pad-dy cultivation and production is the main business in the region and causing of landslides, con-trols silting process, gives shel-ters as habitat for aqua creatures which are the second important product in the region and con-tributes to reduction of climate change.
Various kinds of ecosystems such as mangrove forests, mud-dy forests, grass and sandbanks can be seen in the wildlife sanc-tuary which is home to various species of biodiversity. It is a sin-gle area of naturally conserving Crocodylus porosus which is a species of crocodiles with habita-tion in the area mixed with fresh water and seawater. Moreover, the wildlife sanctuary is habi-tats for otters, hyenas, boars, monkeys, various snakes and mangrove forest birds.
Ramsar Site
Meinmahla Island wildlife sanctuary was designated as the ASEAN Heritage Park on 18 De-cember 2003 and as Ramsar Site in 2017.
In fact, the sanctuary is of importance for conservation of biodiversity as rare species of migratory birds arrive in the Ramsar Site on the island year-ly. That is why the sanctuary was set as national level sanctuary.
Meinmahla Island and Phuket Island
On the way to Meinmahla Island wildlife sanctuary by speed boat, I received a call from my husband residing in Bago. While talking about my trip and similarities of mangrove forests between Meinmahla Island and Phuket Island of Thailand to the husband, I remembered my ex-perience on the trip to Pukhet.
At the floating restaurant on Phuket Island, we had a lunch with meal of roasted lobsters. The restaurant was built on the tim-ber logs. Female workers from the restaurant were Myanmar. So I asked a female worker at the age of my daughter, “Didn’t you fear the events in tsunami?” She replied, “There was not much damage this side at that time. But, damage was worse at seaside ar-eas of the island.”
Mangrove forests thrived along the beach of Phuket Island similar to that of Meinmahla Is-land. The floating restaurant was built near the corner of island where nipa palm plants, man-grove plants and others thrived. Hence, I thought the restaurant was free from impacts of tsu-nami. It proved that mangrove plants could prevent tidal waves.
Breeding farm of crocodiles in Cambodia
I also remembered breeding farms of crocodiles on my trip to Cambodia. When we paid visits to the crocodile breeding farms in Cambodia, we paid entrance fee to the officials.
Our Meinmahla Island wild-life sanctuary is more beauti-ful than a similar sanctuary of Cambodia. Such a sanctuary can catch interest of globetrotters. I have experience on my trip that foreign travelers viewed happy moves of crocodiles in Cambodia at moonlit nights by binoculars. Those foreign tourists spent nights in Cambodia to view moves of crocodiles. Although lodging buildings are ready to admit foreign tourists on Mein-mahla Island, better facilities to Myauktaya Pagoda (100- monkey pagoda).
On the way, we paid homage to Myauktaya Pagoda built by U Nu. As it is very famous, the Buddha Pujaniya festival is held on a grand scale in the month of Tabaung (around March) year-ly. During the period of festival, local people and those from four corners of the nation arrive there by boat to pay homage to the pagoda on a grand scale.
Local people are engaged in fishery tasks of catching fish and prawn. Those fisherpersons cook meals aboard the boats. In my presence, the administrator said, “What do you use diesel or petroleum as fuel for your boat? If you cook abroad the boat, you all may face danger.” It was be-cause a woman cooked a rice pot with the use of charcoal stove in the boat.
Educative tasks
The administrator pointed to latrines on the bank of river. He said, “It is not easy issues we face. We tell somebody not to cook near the generator of boat and share knowledge about un-clean water and clean one. More-over, we disseminate knowledge about danger of crocodiles to the locals as well as distribute pam-phlets about such danger to the locals.”
We the two writers knew ad-vantages of mangrove forests explained by the Township Ad-ministrator aboard the speed-boat. I would like to urge my friends to observe Meinmahla Island wildlife sanctuary. Natural geographical conditions such as mountains, jungles, lands and waters of the country are genu-ine beauties. Myanmar has plen-tiful of natural heritages with genuine beauties.
The ASEAN Environmental Ministers’ Meeting approved the ASEAN level natural heritage parks in 2003 for the first phase in order to upgrade country-wise natural conservation areas in ASEAN countries to meet the set standard of the world. Six ASEAN heritage parks includ-ing Meinmahla Island wildlife sanctuary were designated on 18 December 2003.
16-year lass
I deeply prayed that may Meinmahla Island wildlife sanc-tuary which was set as an ASE-AN heritage park, dubbed as 16 years old lass, be reliable for the motherland Myanmar with more and more beauties in 2019.
Wut Yi Khin (Bago)
Translated by Than Tun Aung
