History & Background
Covering about 3.3 square km along the Goain River, Ratargul remains flooded for up to eight months a year during the monsoon and post-monsoon season, when water levels rise high enough to submerge the trunks of its Hijal and Koroch trees, leaving only their canopies visible above the waterline. It was declared a protected forest reserve in the early 2000s in recognition of its rarity, as freshwater swamp forests of this kind survive in only a handful of places worldwide, and it plays an important ecological role in flood control and fish breeding for the surrounding wetlands.