Bangladesh rarely makes any ‘top ten’ lists worldwide, but an often asked question comes more along the following lines: ‘Since I’m in Bangladesh, what are the top ten things I should see?’ Here’s a suggestion list to get you started:

This post written with the consultation of Dr Felicity Nicholson

Malaria

Along with road accidents, malaria poses another threat to the health of travellers in south Asia. It is unwise to travel in malarial parts of Bangladesh whilst pregnant or with children: the risk of malaria in many parts is considerable and these travellers are likely to succumb rapidly to the disease.

Malaria in Bangladesh

The Anopheles mosquito that transmits the parasite is most commonly found in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region of Bangladesh. All other regions of the country are considered low-risk malaria areas, and there is no malaria in Dhaka. When visiting the CHT outside the main towns (Khagrachari, Bandarban or Rangamati), antimalarial drugs are definitely advised. If at all uncertain, however, visitors should err on the side of caution and take prophylaxis medication well before their visit to the CHT. Doxycycline is widely available and inexpensive as well.

If you ever wanted to experience the living reality of the idiom ‘when it rains, it pours’, Bangladesh is the place to be. During the yearly south Asian monsoon, almost all the water collected by the Himalayas in Nepal, north/northeast India and Bhutan transits through Bangladesh on its journey to the Bay of Bengal, depositing life-giving minerals to the soil all along the Ganges Delta, the largest river delta in the world. It is here that the mountains literally crumble to the sea. This has resulted in Bangladesh’s flatland alluvial topography, which is the defining characteristic of the country except in the hilly regions of the southeast and northeast. The mighty Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers are called the Padma and the Jamuna in Bangladesh, and both of these massive rivers join several other smaller tributaries to eventually become the Lower Meghna, forming the great Gangetic Delta. At its widest point near Bhola Island, the river stretches to a yawning 12km-wide breadth on its final leg towards the sea. Seen from a boat, the distinctions between land, river, ocean and sky become decidedly uncertain.

Click here for full size poster..

It’s time to escape the heat and head for the hills!

This April, join Bangladesh travel guru Mikey Leung for an unforgettable
Chittagong Hill Tracts Trek, co-organised with Bangladesh Eco-tours,
the hill tracts’ leading trek operator. The trek departs on April 14 from Chittagong and ends on April 18th, also in Chittagong.

Summary
An interesting tour focusing on the most interesting and least visited part of the country, the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). Here you will experience the culture and lifestyle of the hidden indigenous people living there.

ACTIVITIES & HIGHLIGHTS
You’ll stay at quaint eco-cottages, enjoy a river cruise, the CHT’s New Year festival (Sangrai for Marma people), treks, handicraft shopping (or perhaps learning), bird watching, sightseeing & photography and most of all — absorbing the pristine atmosphere. Highlights include indigenous cultures, village-based education projects, tribal crafts, music, Buddhist Khyang and more.

DAY 01: Tue 14 Apr Arrive Chittagong
We greet you at Chittagong airport or train station. After a brief sightseeing tour of port city Chittagong we drive to south along the Arakan Highway and into the hills to a small tribal market town of Bandarban. After hotel check-in, you’ll enjoy the Sangrai, the new year festival of Marma tribe, then explore Buddhist temples and Stupas, wander through and photograph the indigenous bazaar or take a walk in the hills. Overnight at the Hillside Eco-lodge with great views of the Sangu river. Bandarban. (L/D)

DAY 02: Wed 15 Apr Bandarban to Ruma
This morning you’ll visit the local weekly market and able to see different tribal peoples arriving to trade for essentials, then drive to Ruma on a smaller hilly road. After a 2 hour drive, you’ll arrive at Ruma Ghat to board a small traditional wooden boat that will take us down the Sangu river to Ruma Bazar. At this time of year there will be little water in the river. This is a very small interesting and ‘relatively’ important riverside market inhabited by Bawm tribal people. In Ruma we’ll stay at the small local guesthouse (B/L/D)

DAY 03: Thu 16 Apr Ruma to Boga Lake, trekking
After breakfast, you’ll take a 5-6 hour trek up a creek valley. You’ll halt for bananas and tea at half-way point. On reaching the last section, the valley will narrow and you’ll have a short climb up the foothill and have some very nice views. The rest of the afternoon is free to rest and mingle in this small and friendly Bawm village. Overnight at a community-built guesthouse. (B/L/D)

DAY 04: Fri 17 Apr Boga Lake & Kewkradang
Today you spend all day at Boga lake village observing and perhaps helping out a bit in the daily life of these hill people. Optionally, you can take a shorter trek up to Darjeeling Para and see the peak of Keokeradang (highest point in Bangladesh). Or you can visit a nearby Marma Buddhist village below the lake. Overnight at a community-built guesthouse. (B/L/D)

DAY 05: Sat 18 Apr Boga Lake to Bandarban via Ruma
You take leave village hosts this morning and gradually trek down the small river valley to Ruma Bazaar. You then take a small wooden country boat to Bandarban and drive back to Chittagong. It was home to the largest population of British in Bengal next to Kolkata (Calcutta) during the colonial times.

We will also include an optional visit to the ship breaking yards where large ships are scrapped by hundreds of men by hand (lots of them), the recycling of gigantic ships by hand, a truly awesome sight! and also visit some recycling shop.

We drop you at airport to fly back to Dhaka or transfer to train station for the overnight journey. (B/L).

Note:
Please note that this tour plan is just a guide to what is planned. We remain open to your input and plans be adjusted to make your tour more interesting, relevant and exciting. It may also be modified due to unforeseen circumstances.

Deposit:
Trip deposit (US$100) will be required in order to book reservation for this trip. The maximum number of passengers is four.

Malaria Notes:
We will be trekking through malaria prone areas on this trip. While we don’t expect any problems, it is best to be prepared. Mosquito nets will be provided at all accommodation. It is highly recommended that you bring long-sleeved tops and bottoms for the evenings and wear mosquito repellent at all times. Guests must also begin the malaria prophylaxis before departure. Malaria testing facilities are widely available in the CHT.

While Bangladesh Ecotours and Joybangla.info are happy to offer advice and suggestions on anti-malarial measures, we cannot take any responsibility for the misconduct of guests who do not follow our advice. Passengers will be required to sign a waiver form to this effect before departure or they will not be allowed to participate on this trip.

Cost:
The trip cost is $425 USD, or 29,000BDT.

The trip cost includes:
-All meals as listed in the itinerary
-Private hire transport from Chittagong to Chittagong
-Accommodation at local guesthouses and villages
-Boat Ride on the Sangu River (Ruma to Bandarban)
-Obtaining government permits
-Local Tour Guide
-Foreign Professional Tour Leader

Trip cost does not include:
-Transport to/from Chittagong
-Gratuities
-Souvenirs
-Antimalarial medicines (available locally in CHT)

~story by Mikey Leung~

At the Guide Tours’ Hillside Resort, you awake to a stunning view of hills poking out from the clouds. See more photos of Bandarban here.

It’s absolutely outrageous to say this, but be prepared to be followed by the police where ever you go while visiting one of Bangladesh’s most attractive destinations, second only to the Sundarbans.

It happened to a group of us last week (all foreign tourists). Before we even knew it, we were being followed by three uniformed police officers carrying aging rifles. They were not aggressive or overbearing, in fact they were usually quite kind and curious like all Bangladeshis are, and they were simply doing their job. Nonetheless, we didn’t formally request their presence, but we got it whether we wanted it or not. It did sour our experience of Bandarban—I felt bad mostly for my group.

The bottom line:

We do not want to scare anyone with this article, as Bandarban is one of Bangladesh’s must-see destinations. We simply want intrepid travellers to be prepared for what they will encounter.

What the casual visitor is not initially aware of is that Bandarban is deemed an “insecure area” by the Bangladeshi government. Insurgent rebel groups are said to be operating in the remote parts of the jungle, despite the fact there was a peace treaty signed 10 years ago. Click here to read more details about the treaty.

Meanwhile there was a kidnapping last year a remote area of the CHT, and that is supposedly why tourists must now suffer with what seems like insane security precautions while visiting this highly scenic and adventurous destination.

And that is why we’d like to provide you with some suggestions when dealing with the security forces.

DO:
* Be aware of your influence on the situation, both positive and negative. You attract more attention and profile when you stay at Guide Tours’ Hillside Resort than if you stay in town. Because of an armed robbery in 2004, extra police have been stationed around the resort, permanently. Although it is safe now, the added presence means that when you want to walk around the resort to the neighbouring villages you must be accompanied by police, depending on the conspicuousness of your group (i.e. all caucasian people, or based on gender). Sometimes the accompanying police are plain-clothed, other times they are uniformed.

DO:
* Try and request a plain-clothed officer when visiting local villages, in order to minimize your impact. When visiting Hatibandha, nearby the resort, only one officer came with us. Be aware that sometimes officers are plain-clothed, for that matter! (The important one with the power is usually carrying the two-way radio.

DO:
* Practise patience and tolerance with security forces as the guys on the ground are just trying to do their jobs. If/when you must have armed, uniformed officers with you, please be patient and be prepared to subsidize their transport on your tour arrangements.

DO:
* Guide Tours’ Hillside Resort staff can usually work out your arrangements for you. If armed police must accompany you to a local village (usually handled on a case-by-case basis), ask that they wait a ways back as you must visit the village chief’s home before hospitality will be extended to you by the villagers.

DO:
* Work within the constraints specified by police. This is for your benefit and for the other travellers who follow in your footsteps. By hindering security forces from doing their jobs, you could potentially ruin access for future travellers, and decrease the opportunities for increased exposure to the situation that hill people face.

DO:
* Help us create enough support for the idea of a locally-based “tourist police,” who are specially assigned to work with tourists and the local security forces, so that our visitors can have the best experience possible in Bandarban. Charge a nominal fee under some kind of organized structure.

And here’s a video of a fantastic view:

This local villager is one of the benefactors of Green Hill’s gravity irrigation system. His village was fully outfitted with running drinking water and is one of Green Hill’s earliest success stories. Green Hill is a Rangamati-based non-government organisation supporting the development of hill tracts people. See more photos here..

Rangamati is perhaps the most-travelled destination inside the Chittagong Hill Tracts—at least by Bengali tourists, that is. The region’s interest comes from its cultural diversity: the majority of its people are not Bengali. Instead you will find people from many different ethnic tribes. In Rangamati, the majority of people are Chakma, and are perhaps the most well off of the various ethnic groups.

The region also holds both a beautiful and a ghastly story that centers around the presence of Kaptai Lake. In the early 1960s, Kaptai Dam was built to generate power for Bangladesh’s growing electricity demands. During the construction, over 100,000 indigenous people were displaced, and many of them were never recompensated. While the lake itself is quite beautiful and peaceful, today it remains a bone of contention: the government began dealing with Bangladesh’s overpopulation problems by moving people on to indigenous lands and evicting the local people around the lake.

As a result the indigenous people began an insurgency that eventually culminated in kidnappings, ransoms and murders. In 1997, a peace accord was signed, but 10 years later many of its stipulations are yet to be fulfilled. Today it is a sticky issue for the Bangladeshi government that seems to have no resolution in sight. The balance between Bengali and indigenous people is delicate, surely becoming more and more unsettled as the days wear on.

In the following podcast we talk about what’s interesting for the tourists who visit the Hill Tracts and briefly discuss that naggling question of “Is the CHT safe?”