Kaptai Lake in Rangamati District of Bangladesh is one of the largest and most beautiful artificial lake in South Asia . In 1956 when the US funded Kaptai Dam was build in the River Karnaphuli by East Pakistan Government then the lower land of this rangamati district submerged under water creating this Kaptai Lake . At that time 40 % Land of Rangamati , among which lots of villages , forest and settlement submerged under the water . Local Chakma King’s Palace was also gone underwater and all total 1,00,000 people got displaced for this Dam . Now it is one of the beautiful natural tourist place of Bangladesh where the Lake is surrounded by mountains . People of this region are connected through this Lake . In this place most of the people are belongs to different tribes like chakma , marma , tripuri , Pankha , Lushai and Rakhin . This area comes under the chittagong hill tracts autonomous region .
This is a place of natural beauty where most of area is covered under the greenery . There is a beautiful water fall Subalang inside this place . The lake is almost 100 km in length and it’s depth is from 100 -490 feet . It looks like a ocean and sometimes the stream of water passes through the mountain canyon . In the way to sublong from Rangamati there is a big buddha statue beside the lake . Here , people of this villages are connected through this lake . People take a boat from the rangamati jetty and the boat reach to their village and dropped them . I think this villages are mostly non-electrified as I don’t find any electric lines in those place . There is also no firm road from the area , boat drops you , to the actual village . The road is very muddy and slippery .
In my mind , way to this wooden pathway , from the concrete stairs is little adventurous . The way is totally muddy and this thing is totally different from the other country . This way is very slippery and much more difficult than climbing a hill. Then comes this wooden pathway to board the the boat . The boats are totally made of wood , and in the roof , there is also seating position . But as today there is heavy rain so all sat in the lower deck position . There is cloth curtain in the boat and if I supposed to see outside , I have to pull the curtain , drop by drop water is coming inside . so It is very difficult in the current situation to look outward and enjoy the nature . But after sometime I pull the curtain and enjoy the beauty of the Lake .
Inside the boat I found some tribal man smoking tobacco like this picture in a Bamboo . They put the tobacco in the outward pot which this lady is holding with her left hand . This is heavy smoking , almost all the boat filled with smoke . There were ladies in the traditional dresses inside the boat . There is also lots of police man going in this route . At that moment I was not filming inside but after they gone we gone in the upper deck and filming the nearby places . Also in the meantime rain also stopped .
From the upper deck it was very nice look of the surrounding . Only this place of Bangladesh you will find very less people inhabits . On the both side of you , can see mountains covered with greenery and in the foothills some rice cultivation by the Tribal people . The lake is such a huge water body that in the middle it feels like ocean . The local people said that in the wintertime the lake’s water is very clean . There is a narrow stream of waterbody connecting two huge waterbodys of Kaptai Lake .
After 1 hour of journey , finally the boat reached to the Sublong village and there is a military post . I don’t go inside the sublong village but from the Lake bank you can see a temple and a Mosque side by side . It feels , that very few outsiders rather than the locals come inside this place . As you can that the locals will stare at you and hesitate to make a conversation but after you start the conversation it is normal . It looks like people of this part are very poor . Most of the items were shipped from Rangamati to this place specially petroleum . Some items were also transported from here .
Places to visit near Kaptai Lake :
There is some tourist spot near to the Kaptai Lake and in Rangamati city . This places are
- Sublong Waterfall
- Hanging Bridge
- Karnaphuli river
- Seikh Russel Eco Park
- Rijban Vihar Pagoda
- Kaptai Dam
- Kaptai National Park
- Rangamati Museum
Most of the places are covered under the reserved Kaptai Lake Tour . This boats can be contacted from the bus station and also the Ferry Ghat . For all days tour they will charge around 2000- 2500 taka . This will take around 6-7 hours . Here sublong waterfall is the most beautiful where is plunged from 300 feet height . It is best to visit in Monsoon Time .
How to reach Kaptai Lake ?
Kaptai lake is situated in the Rangamati District in the Chattogram Division . Both from Dhaka and Chattogram there is direct Bus for Rangamati City . After just crossing the Chattogram when the hilly region starts , there is several military check points to reach toward Rangamati .
I reached this place from the Chattogram . In my mind if you want want to visit better will be to stay one night in Chattogram and in the next day tour toward Rangamati . From Chattogram toward Rangamati it is 77 km and It will take around 3 hours and the bus ticket will costs from 120 – 150 Taka . Buses are available from the Oxygen More of Chattogram . You can also get Reserved /Shared CNG for this route .
From the Rangamati bus stand it is very near to the Steamer station . Either you can take CNG or can walk to reach to the boat station . Be careful when in the muddy way to board the boat . This places are very slippery in the monsoon time .
Summary :
Kaptai Lake is one of the biggest Artificial lake in the South Asia . It was the result of making the Kaptai Dam on the Karnaphuli river . Often people in Bangladesh come here for a tour . This place is mainly inhabited by the tribal people like chakma , marma , tripuri and Lusai . Main route to travel throughout this place is boat in the Kaptai Lake .
You may visit my other bangladesh blog post Sixty Dome Mosque.
