Bandarban

About Bandarban

Bandarban sits in the far south-east of Bangladesh, the southernmost of the three Chittagong Hill Tracts districts. Rangamati lies to the north, Chattogram and Cox's Bazar to the west, and Myanmar wraps around its southern and eastern edges. At roughly 4,479 square kilometres it is one of the largest districts in the country, yet the 2022 census counted only about 481,000 people, so it is also one of the most thinly settled. Seven upazilas make up the district: Bandarban Sadar, Rowangchhari, Ruma, Thanchi, Lama, Alikadam and Naikhongchhari.

The landscape is the reason most visitors come. Steep ridges run north to south, cut by the Sangu and Matamuhuri rivers, and many of the summits that compete for the title of the highest point in Bangladesh, including Keokradong and the peaks around Thanchi, are on Bandarban soil. In the cool months the valleys fill with cloud at dawn, and roads such as the one from the district town to Thanchi climb along ridgelines with views that feel closer to Myanmar or Mizoram than to the delta.

Bandarban is also the most culturally diverse district in Bangladesh. Bengalis make up a little under 60 percent of the population; the rest belong to Indigenous peoples counted separately in the census, among them the Marma, Mro, Tripura, Tanchangya, Bawm, Chakma, Khumi, Chak and Khyang. Each has its own language, dress and festivals, and most villages in the interior belong to one of these communities. Buddhist kyang (monasteries), churches and mosques often stand within sight of one another.

History

A popular local story explains the name: a troop of monkeys is said to have crossed a stream near the present town by holding on to one another, forming a living "dam" (bandar means monkey, ban a dam). Historically the area belonged to the Bohmong Circle, one of three traditional chiefdoms of the hill tracts, and the Bohmong Raja of the Marma still has his seat in Bandarban town. His annual Raj Punya gathering, when the chief formally receives revenue from village headmen, draws people from across the hills.

The British carved the Chittagong Hill Tracts out of Chittagong in 1860 and ran them as a separate frontier district. Bandarban became a subdivision in the mid-twentieth century and a full district on 1 October 1981, when the hill tracts were split into three. The decades of conflict that followed ended formally with the 1997 Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord, which gave the region its hill district councils and a regional council that still share local administration with the national government.

Economy and livelihoods

Farming remains the main livelihood. Many Indigenous households practise jhum, a rotational hill cultivation in which rice, maize, sesame, chilli, ginger, turmeric, pumpkins and cotton grow together on one cleared slope. Valleys and lower hills now carry large orchards of banana, pineapple, papaya, mango and citrus, and truckloads of bananas leave the district town for Chattogram every market day. Timber, bamboo and tobacco around Lama and Alikadam are other important earners, and tourism has grown into a real source of income for drivers, guides, cottage owners and eateries in Sadar, Ruma and Thanchi.

Food, culture and festivals

Festivals follow several calendars. In mid-April the Marma celebrate Sangrai with water splashing, the Tripura mark Boisuk and other communities hold their own new-year rites, while the Bengali Pohela Boishakh falls in the same week. The Buddhist Probarana Purnima in autumn fills the night sky over the town with paper lanterns, and Christian Bawm villages celebrate Christmas in the hills. Banglapedia also notes the Marma plate dance and bamboo dances performed at community events.

Food here differs sharply from the plains. Bamboo shoots, river snails, dried fish pastes and jungle greens are everyday ingredients, and dishes are often cooked inside a length of green bamboo over an open fire. Handloom weaving is an important women's craft: Marma, Bawm and Tripura weavers still make wrap skirts, shawls and bags on traditional waist looms, each community with its own colours and patterns.

Places to visit in Bandarban

1. Buddha Dhatu Jadi (Golden Temple)

   A Theravada Buddhist temple on a hilltop at Balaghata, about 4 km from the district town, built in Southeast Asian style with a large golden Buddha image. It is an active place of worship, so dress modestly and remove shoes where asked.

2. Nilgiri and Chimbuk

   Two viewpoints on the road from Bandarban town towards Thanchi. Nilgiri sits high on a ridge and is famous for mornings when clouds fill the valleys below; Chimbuk, nearer town, looks over Bawm and Mro country.

3. Boga Lake

   A deep natural lake on a hilltop near Ruma, surrounded by Bawm villages and often used as the base for treks to Keokradong. Access depends on the security situation, and visitors register on the way.

4. Nafakhum

   A broad waterfall on the Remakri river beyond Thanchi, reached by boat up the Sangu and then on foot. It is at its fullest just after the monsoon, roughly September to November.

5. Nilachal and Meghla

   Easy outings close to the district town. Nilachal is a hilltop lookout over the town and the Sangu valley, while Meghla is a lakeside park known for its hanging bridges.

What Bandarban is famous for

• Indigenous handloom textiles
• Jhum-grown turmeric and ginger
• Hill bananas
• Hill pineapple
• Bamboo and cane crafts

How to get to Bandarban

Direct buses run from Dhaka to Bandarban town, mostly overnight, and take roughly eight to nine hours depending on traffic on the Dhaka–Chattogram highway. From Chattogram city, buses from Bahaddarhat terminal reach Bandarban in about two to three hours, and it is a similar distance from Cox's Bazar. There is no airport or railway in the district; the nearest airports are in Chattogram and Cox's Bazar. Inside the district, shared jeeps (locally called chander gari) are the usual transport to Nilgiri, Ruma and Thanchi. For Ruma, Thanchi and other remote areas, visitors have been required to travel with a registered local guide and record their details at police or army check posts, and foreign nationals need permission from the district administration; rules change with the security situation, so check with the Bandarban district administration before going.

Markets and haats

Marma Bazar, Bandarban town

A traditional market in the district town where mostly Marma women sell produce straight from the hills: bananas, papaya, bamboo shoots, chillies, ginger, snails and wild greens. Traders load bunches of bananas onto trucks bound for Chattogram here.

Thanchi and Ruma bazaars

The last sizeable markets before the remote interior. On market days people from surrounding villages come down by boat or on foot to trade jhum rice, vegetables, spices and handwoven cloth.

Lama bazaar

The commercial centre of the western upazilas on the Matamuhuri river, a trading point for fruit, tobacco, timber and bamboo from the surrounding hills.

Bandarban at a glance

Shops from Bandarban on Midmart

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Questions about Bandarban

More districts in Chattogram Division

• Brahmanbaria The Titas, classical music, chhanamukhi and the gas fields that power the east
• Chandpur The home of hilsa, where the Padma, Meghna and Dakatia meet
• Chattogram Port city, green hills and mezban: the commercial capital of Bangladesh
• Cumilla Mainamati's Buddhist ruins, khadi cloth and the rasmalai everyone asks for
• Cox's Bazar An unbroken sea beach, the Marine Drive, dried fish and salt fields
• Feni The gateway between Dhaka and Chattogram, home of Khandal's sweets
• Khagrachari Green hills on the Chengi river, Alutila cave and the road to Sajek
• Lakshmipur Soybean fields, coconut and betel nut groves on the Meghna estuary
• Noakhali New land from the Meghna: Hatiya, Nijhum Dwip and a famous dialect
• Rangamati Kaptai Lake, the hanging bridge and Sajek: the lake district of the hills