A Houseboat Night on Tanguar Haor: Water, Hills and Stars in Sunamganj

In the rainy season, a large part of Sunamganj disappears under water. The low basins called haors fill with rain and hill water and become inland seas, with villages standing on raised mounds like islands. Tanguar Haor is the most famous of them, and the best way to know it is to spend a night on it, on a houseboat, with the hills of Meghalaya on the horizon.

The road to Tahirpur

You come by bus, either directly from Dhaka to Sunamganj, about six to seven hours, or via Sylhet, about two hours more by road. The town sits on the Surma, and if you arrive early you can visit the Hason Raja Museum, the family home of the mystic poet whose songs are still sung in the haor villages. From here you go on by CNG or motorbike to Tahirpur, about an hour and a half to two hours. In the wet season the road runs between sheets of water on both sides; some stretches feel like a causeway across a lake.

Tahirpur bazar is busy and simple: tea stalls, rice and fish, boats tied up along the bank. Your houseboat waits at the ghat. It is a wooden boat with a covered deck, cabins or sleeping space below, and a crew who will cook, steer and look after you. Before you step aboard, check that there are life jackets for everyone. Book through an operator you can check, and confirm in writing what is included.

Out onto the open water

The engine starts and the boat swings out into the haor. Within minutes the land falls away. Water stretches in every direction, brown-green near the boat and silver further out, broken by village mounds with a few houses, trees and a mosque, and by stands of swamp trees, hijal and koroch, standing up to their waists in the flood.

And to the north, filling half the sky, are the hills of Meghalaya: steep, dark green, often wrapped in cloud. In the rainy season you can watch whole banks of cloud roll down their slopes and drift over the water towards you. When a shower comes, it arrives as a grey curtain across the haor; you hear it on the roof before you feel it, and then it passes and the light comes back.

Tanguar Haor is a Ramsar site, a wetland of international importance and a breeding ground for freshwater fish. Fishing boats pass, the men casting nets. Children paddle small boats between the mounds as if it were the most normal thing in the world, which here it is.

A swim in the haor

In the afternoon the boat stops near the watchtower and a stand of swamp forest. This is where most people swim. Put on your life jacket, even if you swim well: the haor is deep, and storms come up fast. Then climb down the ladder and let the water take you.

The water is warm on the surface and cooler as your feet hang down. You float with the trees around you, the hills in the distance, the sky enormous. Swim only where the crew says it is safe, stay close to the boat, and never swim at night or in a storm.

Lunch is cooked on board, and it is usually the best meal of the trip: haor fish caught that day, curried or fried; duck curry; rice; and bhortas of mashed vegetables, dried fish and lentils. You eat on the deck with the wind in your hair.

Sunset and stars

As the afternoon goes, the boat moves towards the shore to moor for the night. The sun sinks behind the water in the west, and the hills in the north turn blue, then purple, then black. Lamps come on in the village houses. Frogs and insects start up, and the water goes still.

Then, if the sky is clear, come the stars. With no city glow for miles, the sky fills with them, and on a calm night they are reflected in the water below you. You lie on the roof of the boat and watch them. There is no music: Tanguar is a protected area, and the authorities have restricted noise and littering, so keep the night quiet and keep every piece of plastic out of the water. Electricity and signal are patchy; a torch and a charged power bank matter.

Morning at Niladri

You wake early to mist on the water and the sound of the crew making tea. The boat heads for Tekerghat, near the border, and Niladri Lake. It is not a natural lake but a flooded limestone quarry, and what makes it special is the colour: deep, clear blue-green water ringed by small grassy mounds, with the green hills of India rising just behind. On a still morning the hills are reflected in the water.

Walk around the lake and climb the low mounds for the view. Do not swim here unless locals confirm it is safe: the lake was a quarry, and it is deep with steep sides. The border is very close, so stay within the marked limits and follow any instructions from the border guards.

Nearby, in other seasons

Close to Tahirpur, on the clear Jadukata river, is Barikkatila, a green hillock with one of the best river views in the north-east. Nearby, Shimul Bagan is a huge planted grove of silk-cotton trees that turns red in February and early March. That is the dry season, when the haor has shrunk back into separate beels and the winter birds have arrived, so it makes a reason to come back.

Around midday you return to Tahirpur and head back to Sunamganj, with the haor already feeling like a dream.

Plan this trip

• Best time: June to September for the full haor and houseboat trips; December to February for migratory birds, when the water is low; February to early March for Shimul Bagan in bloom.
• By bus: direct buses from Dhaka to Sunamganj take about 6–7 hours; or take a bus to Sylhet (Dhaka to Sylhet buses) and go on to Sunamganj in about 1.5–2 hours. Then CNG or motorbike to Tahirpur. Search buses.
• Safety: wear a life jacket whenever you are in a boat or the water; do not swim at night or in storms; stay ashore if a storm is forecast.
• Rules: this is a protected area; check the current rules on noise, littering and boats before you go.
• Read more: our haor travel guide and the Sunamganj district guide.