People and land that flood every monsoon

Trip Start Jan 28, 2012
1
8
30
Trip End Mar 12, 2012


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Flag of Bangladesh  , Rajshahi,
Wednesday, February 8, 2012

They are called char people, people who live on islands that flood every monsoon. Their little house may be washed away. They rebuild it in the dry season. On 8 February we visited RDRS's Char development programme. From Rangpur we started at 09:20, we admired the fabulous green on both sides of the road to Kurigram. Rice planting and to our surprise also lots of potatoe fields and quite s few new cold storage warehouses for potatoes, and a few of them under construction. We took pictures,  also to share with Sjef and Dory. We told our guide that Sjef had introduced Dutch  potatoes in Bangladesh in mid and late 1970s. Reaching the Teesta river in just over two hours we saw a new long bridge under construction. We had to cross a one-way train-road bridge of which the wooden runway looked pretty tricky. Maintenance on this bridge had clearly stopped since the start of the new one.

We reached the end of the road to Chilgimari from where we had to walk towards a sturdy speed boat that was waiting for us
Fields of potatoes
Fields of potatoes
. Leaving the shore we saw a huge market on boats further down, where bullock, buffaloes and various crops were traded. It was a beautiful sight. After some 15 minutes  we reached the char where we had to wade through sand with crops growing on both sides of us. We discussed the RDRS programme in Manushmara char, one of the six offices they have spread among the 200 chars they cover. 

Kurigram District in the north-west of Bangladesh is most affected by flooding and erosion. It is here that the Brahmaputra river and its tributaries create and destroy low-lying and infertile islands and riverbanks as they criss-cross the flat, sandy plain.
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