Natore, Rajshahi
The largest wetland in Bangladesh, a sea of water in the monsoon and a patchwork of fields, fish ponds and drying racks in winter.
Monsoon boat races on the beel and its rivers are among the region’s great festivals, with long racing boats, drums and singing crowds on the banks. The fishing communities around the beel have their own rhythms of work and festival tied to the water.
Chalan Beel is a vast low-lying basin where many rivers of the north meet and spread out, among them the Atrai and the Gumani. In the monsoon it joins into one great sheet of water, with villages standing like islands; in the dry season it shrinks into smaller beels, channels and fields.
Its size changes with every season, and it has shrunk over the decades as silt, roads and farming have reclaimed land, but it is still the largest inland wetland in Bangladesh, spread across Natore, Pabna and Sirajganj.
The beel feeds a whole way of life: fishing with traps and nets, boat-building, rice grown as the water falls, and shutki (dried fish) made on racks along the banks. In winter it draws migratory birds, and in the monsoon it hosts boat races that bring out crowds from miles around.
Leave in the morning by bus or CNG.
In the monsoon, take a boat out across the beel for two or three hours, past island villages and fishing nets.
Eat fresh beel fish with rice at the bazar.
Watch the sun go down over the water before heading back to Natore.
August to October for open water and boat trips; December to February for birds and shutki
Singra, about 30–45 minutes north-east of Natore town by bus or CNG, is the usual gateway. In the monsoon, hire a boat from the ghats near Singra; in the dry season, ride an auto-rickshaw along the embankment roads. The beel also spreads into Pabna and Sirajganj districts.
