Day 1 — Arrive Dhaka → Check-in & Rest

Meet at DAC, transfer to your hotel, conduct a gear/optics check, and receive a detailed briefing on field protocols (ethics, playback, red-light use, checklist strategy). Optional golden-hour leg-stretch nearby if time allows.

Day 2 — Dhaka → Srimangal; Satchari Forest Edge (PM)

Travel to Srimangal, the base for the tea-country forests. By mid-afternoon, start your warm-up circuits along Satchari forest edges, targeting:

• Cachar Bulbul (early scouts)
• Drongos: Bronzed, Hair-crested, Greater Racket-tailed
• Barbets: Lineated, Blue-throated, Blue-eared, Coppersmith
• Ioras, minivets, leafbirds, common forest-edge species

Mammals often encountered: Capped Langur, Rhesus Macaque.

Day 3 — Satchari NP: Cachar Bulbul Target Day

First-light stakeouts in known Cachar Bulbul territories. Slow, repeated trail loops for:

• White-cheeked Partridge (often heard first, then worked carefully)
• Hornbills, Green-billed Malkoha
• Owls (Asian Barred, Collared Scops day-roost possibilities)
• Woodpeckers: Grey-capped Pygmy, Greater Yellownape, Greater & Black-rumped Flamebacks, Rufous Woodpecker
• Flycatchers: Hill Blue, Blue-throated Blue, Little Pied, Taiga, Snowy-browed
• Leaf warblers: Yellow-browed, Green-crowned, Greenish, Blyth’s Leaf
• White-throated Bulbul, Pin-striped Tit-babbler, Puff-throated & Abbott’s Babblers, White-rumped Shama
• Nectar feeders: Little Spiderhunter, sunbirds

Mammal bonus: Western Hoolock Gibbon sometimes vocal mid-morning.

Day 4 — Lawachara (AM) + Baikka Beel (PM)

Dawn entry into Lawachara National Park: gibbon corridor and mixed flocks for repeats and new forest species (drongos, woodpeckers, barbets, leaf-warblers, babblers, nuthatches).

Afternoon at Baikka Beel: watchtowers and edges for:

• Asian Openbill; Glossy & Black-headed Ibises
• Ferruginous Duck, Gadwall, Pintail, Common Teal
• Pheasant-tailed & Bronze-winged Jacanas
• Grey-headed Swamphen, moorhens, crakes (with luck)
• Black-tailed Godwit, Marsh/Wood/Spotted Redshank & other waders
• Eastern Marsh & Pied Harriers quartering reedbeds in golden light

Night in Srimangal.

Day 5 — Padma Grasslands at Dawn → Khulna → Sundarbans (PM)

Pre-dawn departure to Padma River grasslands and reedbeds. Key targets:

• Bengal Bushlark, Striated Babbler, White-tailed Stonechat
• Baikal Bush Warbler (+ potential Locustella surprises)
• Grey-throated Martin, Delicate/Plain Prinias, Zitting Cisticola
• Hen Harrier, Watercock, Bluethroat, Siberian Rubythroat
• Pipits: Blyth’s Pipit; wagtails, including Citrine

After a focused morning session, continue to Khulna, board your private riverboat, and settle in. A first PM run into the outer Sundarbans channels gives you kingfishers, kites, maybe early finfoot scans. Short dusk skiff for owls/kingfishers if time/tide allow. Overnight on the boat.

Day 6 — Sundarbans Deep I (Harbaria Sectors & First Finfoot Scans)

Work Harbaria sectors and nearby creeks with falling tides — prime Masked Finfoot windows. Typical cast:

• Brown-winged, Black-capped, White-throated, Common & Collared Kingfishers
• Osprey, Brahminy & Black Kite
• Waders: Whimbrel, Little Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper, Greenshank

Night: first selective spotlight run for White-eared Night Heron and Buffy Fish Owl using red filters and tight, ethical windows.

Bonus mammals: Asian Small-clawed Otter, Chital (spotted deer), Wild Boar, Saltwater Crocodile, Asian Water Monitor.

Day 7 — Sundarbans Deep II (Kotka–Kochikhali & Jamtola Beach)

Pre-dawn skiff from Kotka; then watchtower vigils scanning clearings for raptors and deer.

Forest-to-beach walk to Jamtola Beach (Red Junglefowl, mangrove passerines, shorebirds). PM creeks around Kochikhali for closer views of Ruddy Kingfisher, herons and egrets.

Night: repeat targeted window for White-eared Night Heron if still missing; Mainland Leopard Cat chance along quiet banks.

Day 8 — Sundarbans Deep III (Horintana Creeks & Mudflats)

Quieter Horintana creeks for repeat Masked Finfoot attempts, plus:

• Day roost efforts for Buffy Fish Owl
• Mudflats and sandbars for additional waders and herons
• Edge forests for woodpeckers: Streak-breasted, Grey-headed, Common/Black-rumped/Greater Flamebacks, Rufous Woodpecker

Mid-day and channel sections for Ganges & Irrawaddy Dolphins. Evening BBQ on deck (weather permitting).

Day 9 — Sundarbans Deep IV (Otter Banks & Pitta Listening)

Focus on otter-favoured stretches and especially productive finfoot creeks — patient, quiet skiff time. Static “listening posts” for Mangrove Pitta (often heard), plus Black-naped Oriole (diffusus) and other mangrove passerines along the edges.

Optional very short, highly focused night run if key targets remain.

Day 10 — Sundarbans Deep V (Karamjol & Last Creeks)

First light on the Karamjol boardwalk for:

• Forest Wagtail, Asian Brown Flycatcher
• Flowerpeckers, sunbirds, common mangrove edge species

Final skiff circuits to clean up remaining kingfishers, raptors, herons or finfoot if luck smiles. Cruise back toward Mongla, anchoring close enough for an easy disembark the next morning.

Day 11 — Disembark → Jessore Flight or Drive → Dhaka Hotel

Morning disembark at Mongla, then transfer by road to Jessore, and take a short domestic flight to Dhaka when available (or overland all the way by private vehicle). Check into your Dhaka hotel for a buffer night, a checklist clean-up and a relaxed final dinner.

Day 12 — Depart Dhaka

Private airport transfer according to your flight schedule. The tour ends, but the sound of gibbons, the hush of mangroves, and the thrill of your lifers stay with you.