Last Wednesday we went on a small boat trip to a place called Lalakhal which is located in the northeastern Bangladesh. The lushness of nature and the clear blue waters, something so beautiful have I seen only few times in my life. The boat took us to a place which was located right at the border of India and Bangladesh. We climbed up to a small hill and admired the view for a while. We saw a boy riding his bike, an elderly woman doing some gardening outside and just on the other side of the river we saw India.

After we had finished taking numerous photos of the beautiful surroundings we decided to head back to our hotel. Two of us (including me) climbed on the roof of the boat with the boatman and three of us sat on the boat’s wood benches. We saw a beautiful sunset after which it got pitch dark. My friend was laying on his back looking at the stars and I was sitting closer to the front. The view was beautiful, even though we could not see that far.

After a while we saw six boats at the shore. Our boatman took his flashlight and started to check the boats one by one. At that point I realized that maybe he’s checking those boats to make sure that there’s nobody who could come and rob us. My heart stopped for a while, but luckily there was nobody there. After the boatman had checked the last boat I felt relieved and thought to myself that maybe this was all just something that was in my head, and I started to admire the stars again. However, later I heard that my friend who’s from Bangladesh had been praying during the boat trip, because also he had had the feeling that something bad might happen.

At some point I started to look closely to the shore because I saw people fishing there. The lights that helped them to see in the dark caught my attention. Suddenly, I saw a small light in the dark that moved a bit and then disappeared. I thought to myself, that maybe, it was some kid with a flashlight. However, after few minutes I saw a similar light on top of a huge rock. This time I thought that maybe it’s a light that helps boats to navigate. The light kept disappearing and moving forward, and then it struck me: it must be a firefly!

I had never seen fireflies before and my Canadian friend who was with me on top of the boat roof told that he had neither. I asked if he had, because I wanted to know how those look like in real life. I told him that I think I just saw one, but when we looked together the light was gone. I thought that he must think that I am going crazy, and I started looking closely whether I could see more of those lights. I started to get quite desperate when suddenly I saw a light again and pointed it and shouted: there, look!

This time my friend saw the small light as well and confirmed that it’s a firefly indeed. We started to see more fireflies: in total we saw around 20 during the whole boat ride. Later I learned that fireflies are actually beetles, and that there are about 2000 different firefly species. Some of the firefly species are synchronized forming beautiful lightshows while blinking on and off in unison. What is still a mystery to the scientist is the process of how the fireflies regulate the lights.

We were already close to the point from where we first started our trip when I saw a firefly flying around the boat. As an eternal optimist, I thought that it must mean something. That little light in the dark which guides us to the right direction even in times when we feel like all the hope is gone. All we need to do is to follow that light and never to lose hope, not even when that light takes a U-turn and takes you to a whole new direction.  

Best,

Johanna

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