Sundarbans to Bandarban Bangladesh

Bangladesh - Sundarban to Bandarban

By Road from Dhaka to Khulna

In Dhaka, I joked that we were in the land of 3G - gritty air, gridlock traffic, and greatly over-populated.

Bangladesh is typically not high on the tourist list for a holiday, yet when the opportunity to visit came up we decided that the best sights were the famous mangrove forests of the Sundarbans and the highland area of Bandarban.

The car that picked us up was so dilapidated that the boot would not close. The driver had to stop on the road, hunt for some wire, and tie it down. Only the front passenger seat belt worked. The traffic was so chaotic - we needed those seat belts. We tried to negotiate for another car and gave up deciding to commit to the misadventure.

The ferry looked like a relic from WWII.

On the ferry, the car was sandwiched like a pickle between massive meaty trucks. We were luckily one of the last cars put on the ferry along with buses, lorries, motorbikes, baby taxis, and petrol tankers. The ancient boat beside us was the actual engine. 


It was a cold hazy day and everyone was bundled up. The views from the ferry were not very clear and the air had a gritty oily feel to it - haze with texture. 

On the ferry, we became instant attractions for the boat passengers. Mostly because it was unusual for them to see foreign tourists and we were definitely worth staring at. 

One enterprising food server jumped onto the ferry before it left to serve up some spicy treats to all the ferry passengers.

He was having a successful day selling some puffed rice mixed with chiles, coriander, tomato, and some spicy secret sauce that he stirred together and poured it into a paper cone for 20 Taka. We were tempted to buy some but feared for our digestive tracts.

There was a huge variety of boat ferries - all different in style and busily passing in one direction or another.

Dredgers were removing sand from the banks and the river bottom, pumping it onto flat bottomed boats that were connected to long pipes sending the sand to fill in interior land, for agriculture. 

On to the Sundarbans - a UNESCO world heritage site.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundarbans#mediaviewer/File:Sundarbans.jpg

As on the Padma, the entry to the Sundarbans was lined with industries - some more controversial than others. We saw cement plants, brick kilns, LP gas bottling, and most controversial was the building of a new coal-fired power plant. These heavy industries will most likely have a negative impact on the Sundarbans.

Slightly worrisome was the oil spill in Dec 2014 that spread through a large area of the Sundarbans. We were committed to going and hoped that we would be spared sights of horrible damage to wildlife and humans. 
About 1.5 hours past Mongla we saw the effects of the oil spill. All the houses and vegetation were marked with black where the oil reached. It was due to a boat collision - that is easy to picture when the fog is thick.

Black stains also found on ferns and trees 5 hours further away on small side canals. The long term effects of this spill will take some time to determine especially what the damage is to mammals, birds, fish, and invertebrates living on/in the water.
We saw a few dolphins from a distance but it was not possible to get a photo of them as they rose and dove into the water.

Research has begun on dolphins and other endangered species in the Sundarbans. In Jan 2015 a UN team and a local organization were looking at the main spill site and sites away from the spill.

Our tour company was called "Guide Tours". They have also been active in research and studying the area. Our first sightings were of Irrawaddy and Gangetic dolphins. The Irrawaddy dolphins were smaller whitish, the larger Gangetic dolphins have long beaks and come up out of the water so that the whole body is visible.
We bought the catfish and some crabs from the old fisherman. Our cook on the Guide Tour boat was fantastic. His Bengali food was excellent as was his western-style dishes - he made the best cream caramel I have ever tasted.

There were 11 other charter boats at Katka - so everywhere we went there were at least 50 other people going to the same limited number of places. I felt this was too much pressure on the delicate environment of this World Heritage Site.

On the way to a beach at the Bay of Bengal, we passed through a thick mangrove forest.

Amazing birdlife in the mangroves.

Tiger footprints - they do exist!

Our Guide Tour boat holds about 12 people.

We had a lovely three-night and four-day trip.

Bandarban Hill Tracts
After two short flights, we were driving to Bandarban. On the way there we experienced heavy traffic in Chittagong, Bangladesh's second-largest city. It was choked with baby taxis, bike rickshaws, motorbikes, cars, trucks - the city seemed to be held hostage by its own human population. Eventually, we reached Bandarban in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
The Buddha Dhatu Jadi temple was peaceful. The style was very similar to Shwedagon in Yangoon and the people that worship here is also very similar to Burmese both in customs and language. The temple sits on a high hill and depicts many stories about Buddha.

Party Time!
We traveled to Ruma for a cultural program. It was held at the high school and was attended by hundreds of villagers. Everyone enjoyed traditional dances and music of the various Hill Tract tribes.

After a late-night of fireworks, fire balloons, dances, and music we stayed at a small homestay in Ruma.

Zomi Resort and Restaurant, own by a young Bawm family. It was a wonderful place to stay with fresh fruits for breakfast. 

Young Bawm women collect water from a hole they have made at the side of a very dirty stream.
A pretty young woman waiting at a tailor shop in Ruma Bazaar.

We went for a boat trip on the Sangu River to visit a waterfall. Boats lined up on the Sangu River to carry people to their villages.

Shifting agriculture is practiced in the hill area. The land is cleared by cutting all the trees and burning the brush.

The main crop in the area at this time of year appeared to be tobacco. 

Different faces of Hill Tract women, one Bawm woman below was selling a stinky fish paste, another Bengali woman was sitting in front of her house and a Tripura woman weighted down by heavy beads was shopping in Ruma.

Tripura woman

Kaptai Lake

A view of Kaptai lake that some Bengali's call the Switzerland of Bangladesh. It is a lovely sight but underneath it has buried the homes and agricultural lands of thousands of people. Many people were not compensated for the loss of their property.

The dam was finished in 1962 to generate power and it is the only hydropower in the country.

On the other side of the dam, workers carry heavy loads of sand for construction. They pass load after load from one to the other as it goes up the bank to a waiting truck.

Boats on the Kaptai carry people for joy rides and those that have to reach their villages on the other side of the massive reservoir.

Many boats were carrying wood to sell on the other side of the lake. It seems that the forestry reserve land has some ambiguous rules on cutting trees.
A village across the lake has many houses that look temporary. The loss of their farmland is still mourned by the people in the area.

One busy restaurant on the Kaptai serves local food and fish from the lake. It is called Peda Ting Ting, which means a full stomach. People generally eat a lot of fish and love certain Bengali dishes. 
This small restaurant was making lots of people happy with its local cuisine.

One more load and I am out'a here. Goodbye to Bangladesh.