New photography book on Sundarbans on sale now

Posted on 13. Nov, 2009 by in Best of Bangladesh, Responsible Travel, Sundarbans

Elisabeth Fahrni Mansur & Rubaiyat Mansur are normally a modest pair. But if you ask them anything about the Sundarbans, that quickly changes. When it comes to promoting cetacean conservation, under the banner of the Bangladesh Cetacean Diversity Project, you’ll quickly find they are staunch advocates of the whales and dolphins of Bangladesh.

Sailing and Trekking – two of Bangladesh's best bets

Posted on 14. Sep, 2009 by in Chittagong Hill Tracts, Events

Fancy a relaxing day out of Dhaka on a restored Bangladeshi sailing boat? Then join us for an unforgettable day cruise on the B613, a luxurious sailing boat created and maintained by Contic Tours.

Climb Bangladesh's second-highest mountain; visit the Chittagong Ship Breaking Yards

Posted on 29. Mar, 2009 by in Chittagong Hill Tracts, Events, Free Travel Tips

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.

Do you know where your shrimp comes from?

Posted on 23. Dec, 2008 by in Food, Responsible Travel, Sundarbans

If not, maybe you should find out. “White Gold”, as Swedish NGO the Swallows NGO has termed shrimp from Bangladesh, is one of the nation’s most environmentally threatening products. This is because the shrimp farms require saline water. In a bid to increase production for the lucrative product, producers have forcibly taken land from poor [...]

Guide Tours offers Dolphin and Whale Watching tours in the Bay of Bengal

Posted on 11. Dec, 2008 by in Best of Bangladesh, Events, Free Travel Tips, Responsible Travel

~courtesy Guide Tours~ 50 Kilometers offshore of Dubla Island (Sundarban Reserve Forest), there is an underwater canyon where the depth increases drastically from only 10 meters to over 500meters – the Swatch-of-No-Ground. The change in depth is clearly visible on the surface, dramatically marked by a contrasting color change. The amazing fish abundance supports a [...]

Look inside Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban, Bangladesh's National Assembly building

Posted on 05. Oct, 2008 by in Best of Bangladesh

~story by Mikey Leung~ Tours of Bangladesh’s famous National Assembly building are not too hard to come by, with a few private operators offering to arrange the trip. But for those of you who don’t get the chance.. here’s what some careful digging has discovered: Nathaniel Kahn is Louis Kahn’s son. The famous architect was [...]

If you do Old Dhaka only once, go during Durga Puja

Posted on 01. Oct, 2008 by in Best of Bangladesh, Events

The Urban Study Group is at it again: this time they’re hosting a one day walk on 7 Oct, what will hopefully be one of the least busy times during Durga Puja, as its normally thronging with thousands of people. What follows is a calendar of events of what will happen over the festival, which [...]

Amar Sonar Bangladesh: photo video presentation

Posted on 07. Aug, 2008 by in Best of Bangladesh, Free Travel Tips, Photography

~photos by Mikey Leung and Belinda Meggitt~ We’ve received some mixed reviews over the above photographic video presentation, which we’ve shown to some members of the Bangladesh tourism industry. Some people love the images and the music, while others have told us some of the images portray a side of Bangladesh that should remain hidden. [...]

Indigenous Women in Bangladesh — exhibition by Bangladeshi photographer Mahmud

Posted on 06. Aug, 2008 by in Chittagong Hill Tracts, Events, Photography, Responsible Travel

Click here for the full size flyer. Over 50 different indigenous societies live in Bangladesh, scattered around country. Among them, their female members are perhaps some of the people most excluded from the rest of society, in terms of education, health care and government resources. Mahmud, of MAP Photo Agency, has photographed these populations for [...]

Full Moon Beach Parties at Cox's Bazaar

Posted on 25. Jun, 2008 by in Best of Bangladesh, Events

~story by Mikey Leung~ Full Moon Beach Parties in Bangladesh? Just last year, most travellers wouldn’t have dreamed of it. But the reality is that they are now a monthly occurrence, drawing anywhere from a few dozen to a few hundred people to the beachside at Cox’s Bazaar every month. The parties are an initiative [...]

Tour operators of Sundarban: the Joybangla.info review

Posted on 04. May, 2008 by in Editorials, FAQ, Sundarbans

~story by Mikey Leung~ You’re considering a journey to Sundarban, one of the world’s most pristine wildernesses and certainly a highlight of the subcontinent. Who do you turn to for more information? In the course of our research we’ve managed to try out a few operators—but perhaps you know others. Feel free to let us [...]

Touring Old Dhaka? Talk to the Urban Study Group

Posted on 14. Apr, 2008 by in Best of Bangladesh

Homaira and Taimur of Dhaka’s Urban Study Group have started offering guided explorations of Old Dhaka, on both the weekends and weekdays, in an effort to see some of the older buildings preserved and restored. Here’s a quote from their recent mailings regarding the preservation work they’re attempting to do: While our documentation of the [...]

Conserving the Sundarbans Tigers: The Sundarbans Tiger Project speaks out

Posted on 30. Mar, 2008 by in Editorials, Sundarbans

Tigers are in the news again, but finally we’re hearing from the conservationist side of the story. As Adam Barlow writes: I hope, for the sake of the tigers, that there will be no further unbalanced attacks the media that are at best divisive and at worse damage tiger conservation. It is much easier to [...]

The Rocket: a misnomer of sloth-sized proportion

Posted on 28. Mar, 2008 by in Best of Bangladesh, Free Travel Tips, Sundarbans

When the Rocket steamer service first commenced its service in 1956, the vessels may have been some of the fastest water-borne vessels of their time. Eighty years and one refurbishment later, the four Rocket is still “hammering around the Delta,” as travel writer Jack Barker put it, and fortunately only one of the six original [...]

Nazimgarh Resort: A taste of Bengali luxury

Posted on 02. Mar, 2008 by in Best of Bangladesh, Responsible Travel

~story by Mikey Leung~ There are some rare moments as a guidebook writer that I am given a chance to enjoy the peace and serenity offered to me by the natural beauty of Bangladesh, and I try to seek out these experiences whenever possible. One of these rare moments came as I sat on the [...]

Tiger collaring under controversy in Bangladesh

Posted on 01. Mar, 2008 by in Editorials, Responsible Travel, Sundarbans

Some recent controversy has arisen over the work of the Sundarbans Tiger Project, a conservation project based in the Bangladesh side of the Sundarbans. The issue mainly stems over whether the project is doing good by learning the habits of the majestic animal, or contributing to its demise. Its opponents argue that the drug used [...]

Things you should know about Bandarban, before you go

Posted on 27. Feb, 2008 by in Best of Bangladesh, Chittagong Hill Tracts, FAQ

~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 [...]

Mushrooming Hotel Trade on St Martin's Island

Posted on 21. Feb, 2008 by in Best of Bangladesh, Editorials

~story and photo by Belinda Meggitt~ Originally published in the New Age, Feb. 13, 2008. More photos available here. For a country that blossoms with national pride, the majority of Bangladeshis fail to respect the country’s natural wonders. St Martin’s Island, where once thousands of migratory birds sought refuge, turtles laid eggs and coral grew, [...]

Refugees need education materials at Cox's Bazaar

Posted on 21. Feb, 2008 by in Best of Bangladesh, Responsible Travel

While the beach at Cox’s Bazaar becomes more and more crowded with people this tourist season, very few know visitors know that there is a refugee camp not far from Bangladesh’s much-heralded beach paradise. And the people at this camp need help. World Food Programme Volunteer Lindy Hogan writes: As most of you know, I [...]

Forest Department Develops New Eco-Tourism Excursions for Cox's Bazaar Tourists

Posted on 24. Jan, 2008 by in Best of Bangladesh

republished from www.Nishorgo.org Cox Bazaar, January 07, 2008: Forest Department’s Nishorgo Program has taken 15 leading Cox Bazaar tour operators and hotel owners to newly established eco-tourism areas at Mochoni Nature Park and Kudum Cave within the Teknaf Game Reserve, as part of an effort to expand the excursion outings from the increasingly crowded Cox [...]

Rangamati — the CHT's most accessible destination

Posted on 21. Jan, 2008 by in Chittagong Hill Tracts

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 [...]

Guide Tours online fundraising complete: $1,855 raised

Posted on 21. Jan, 2008 by in Sundarbans

A woman stands with her young daughter while collecting relief goods being delivered from CARITAS. Villagers suffered greatly during the cyclone. Many lost their homes, boats and livelihoods. Nevertheless, people are now busy picking up the pieces and rebuilding their lives. See more photos here.. Dear Donors, Well aware that this message is late in [...]

Kuakata: the deep south

Posted on 24. Dec, 2007 by in Best of Bangladesh

See more Kuakata photos.. Bangladesh’s deep South is dappled by religious conservatism and indigenous unease. As one of Bangladesh’s rapidly growing tourist destinations, Kuakata offers a calm respite from Dhaka’s suffocating intensity, without the commercialisation of Cox’s Bazar. Located 320km south of Dhaka and 70km south of Patuakhali, Kuakata is connected to the rest of [...]

Guide Tours Sundarban relief effort update

Posted on 08. Dec, 2007 by in Sundarbans

1st Field Report from The Guide Tours Ltd. Relief Efforts On November 15th 2007 cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh; thousands of lives and homes were destroyed, hundreds of boats and men were lost in our coastal waters. The Sundarban forest took a heavy blow. Within hours we received word from friends around the world, extending their [...]

To protect Sundarban, its stewards must change

Posted on 08. Dec, 2007 by in Sundarbans

This story republished from the New Age, Friday, Dec. 7, 2007. Because the new age stories do not stay online permanently, the editors of Joybangla.info saw it fit to be re-published here. Photo by Belinda Meggitt. It is estimated that between 5 and 10 million people who live along the coastal belt and the fringe [...]

Guide Tours appeals for help for victims of Cyclone Sidr

Posted on 25. Nov, 2007 by in Sundarbans

republished from an e-mail message from Guide Tours Dear Friends, Greetings from The Guide Tours Ltd. We hope you and your families are well. Reports and pictures from the devastating effects of cyclone Sidr have certainly reached your homes. Caring words from all over the world are reaching us with concerns and requests to extend [...]

BBC's Bangladesh Boat Diary Goes Live

Posted on 30. Oct, 2007 by in Free Travel Tips, Sundarbans

BBC World Service’s Bangladesh Boat Diary has gone online and live as of October 29. For the next month, 48 people—scientists, BBC journalists and others—have crammed onto the M.V. Aboshar, a vessel of Guide Tours, to write, photograph and broadcast news from the riverways of Bangladesh. Their chosen theme is climate change, in which Bangladesh [...]