 |
| @ Kuakatta beach |
Rezwanur Rahim
On the evening of Wednesday, the 13th of January, we set out on a 12 hour journey towards the extreme southern region of Bangladesh for a 3 days long study tour at KUAKATA. The purpose of the visit was to get knowledge about the fishing sector of Bangladesh and also the prospect of tourism and learn about the people who are related with these activities in Kuakata, Patuakhali. BIZ BEE, BRAC University Business Club, organized the study tour to Kaukata for its members.
We the BIZ BEEs started our journey at on 13th January around 8 o’clock; it was an overnight journey and took nearly 12 hours to reach our destination. We crossed six ferries and the road to KUAKATA was adventurous. After reaching there, we got freshened up at ‘KUAKATTA GUEST HOUSE’; we could not wait any longer to go to the seaside. It has a wide sandy beach, which affords one the unique opportunity of watching both the sunrise and the sunset. There were hardly any tourists at that time. We learned that locally kuakatta is known as Sagar kannya, which means daughter of the sea.
After taking endless photographs of the sea beach and the beautiful surroundings, we moved on with our main purpose to visit the shrimp factories. On the way to factory, where we travelled by the local vehicle called tom tom, we visited the 200 years old Rakhaine temple. Outside of the temple was drab and dull. However, inside were wide-eyed 35 feet tall Rakhaine idol. We even visited the Rakhine tribal families, which were situated nearby. They live their life by producing Rakhine cloths and selling them to the tourist.
 |
| Inside the Rakhaine Temple |
The shrimp factories were usually small, however few thousand people are directly involve in the fishing activities. Mostly women and children are involved in processing of the shrimp where men go to the deep sea to catch the shrimp. It was there main occupation and only way to live their life. The shrimp industries are not as strong as it was before. The cyclones weaken the shrimp industries in kuakatta.
The next day, we went out early to see the sunrise, which was magnificently beautiful. This time the shore was full of tourist. Later on that day, we had a friendly football match among us on the sea beach. It was fun and extremely amusing. After the match and swimming in the salty sea, we moved on to visit the ice factory that was based on the fishing industry. The weather was already cold and chilly and the ice made us even colder. The hardworking people start their work early in the morning even when the sun did not come out properly.
On the way back, we visited the area famous for dry fish. Almost all kind of fishes are dried under the sun. We talked with few people related with dry fish processing. We were courteously explained how everything is done. At the evening, we visited the hundred years old wells, known as Kua and Kata. The name Kuakatta was originated from those wells.
The day and journey ended very quickly, we again went to the beach see another mind-blowing scene, the sunset. The lodging at and food at Kuakatta Guest House was excellent and very tasty. We put on few pounds on staying there.
We left Kuakatta on the following Saturday with great experiences, ideas and positive views. The entire tour was refreshing from the monotonous city life. BIZ BEE is planning to organize such kind of tours in the near future.
