Kuakata, Undoubtedly, is something more than a blessed town, because the first imagery that was created in your brain after reading or listening the word, the name, “Kuakata” was of a beach as almost everybody in the country anyway at least heard the name and this name as in the blissful beach is a pretty renowned one as well even in the international phenomena for an exceptional reason.
And the reason is anybody can enjoy both the heavenly morning glory sunrise and the labyrinth of euphoria of a very peaceful sunset being on the same beach.
The prestigious Kuakata is pretty well renowned with the attribute “Daughter of the sea.” Kuakata is one of the most scenic beaches in Bangladesh with a length of 18 km and a width of 3 km.
Geographically Kuakata:
Kuakata geographically is positioned in the Latachapali union of Kalapara Upazila under the Mohipur police outpost administrative territory of the Patuakhali district. Its distance by road from the capital is 360 km, and from the divisional community, Barisal is 106 km. The beach town is situated 60 km south of Patuakhali Sadar.
Beneath the surface of the origination of the name “kuakata” is a long history linked and amalgamated with the arrival of Arakanese (Rakhine settlers) in the country.
To the left is Bhola, Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar in the east and to the right is Barguna, Bagerhat, Khulna and Sundarbans in the west.
Natural Beauty of Kuakata:
Kuakata beach is hedged on three sides by the Bay of Bengal. The blissful breeze of the forest along the coast, the magical environment of the beach awakens absolute splendid beauty in everyone’s mind and spearheads purity. This is exactly the dreamy mystery place Kuakata we are talking about.
The forest department plays a huge role in enhancing the beauty of Kuakata. There are about 14,000 acres of forest under the forest department. From here one can go to Fatrar Char using engine driven boat. It takes an hour. There are 10,000 acres of forest in Fatrar Char. There are mangrove trees like Kewa, Sundari, Bain, Kakra, Garan, Tehal and Golpata. In this forest one can witness deer, monkeys, tigers, wild boars, foxes etc.
Kuakata, the land of beauty is nothing but a sanctuary of migratory birds as well. In winter, migratory birds – Korani duck, teal,egret, little cormorant, waterfowl, common tern, gander, Chokha, Kaima, Harians and many other species of animals and birds becomes the life of Fatarar Char what provides Kuakata with a lusty bouncing mood.
Most of these birds come from Siberia.Besides, birds also come from Australia, Finland, Philippines, China, Maldives. Fatarar Char, 10 km from the beach, is not in the deep sea and near the cost.While Walking in the forest and witnessing all the lined up trees, one may fall prey to the beauty of Kuakata and take the opportunity to get mingled with the harmonized nature.
Kuakata representing the core value of life:
Standing on the beach facing the vast sea, you might get lost in infinity and stuck in a beautiful labyrinth of vacuum where the meaning of life lies beneath the surface. And behind you, the whole Bangladesh encourages you to find the true meaning of life out standing there on the beach.
To the left is Bhola, Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar in the east and to the right is Barguna, Bagerhat, Khulna and Sundarbans in the west.
The Magnificent Kuakata:
If you get tired sun bathing and enjoying under water, obviously, you won’t be wanting to miss the chance to take rest reclining at the recumbent stool under the shade of all the colorful umbrellas.
Engine-powered boat rentals are available for sea travel.
These boats are rented in per hour deal. The beach possesses chicky foods, tea, and coconut drinking facilities. One might find many running from one end to the other in a beach car.
Tourists are more prone to be here in the morning and afternoon time to grasp the immeasurable delight. People in a picnic is a typical scenario of this beach. Especially from November to April, students from different educational institutions come here for excursions and picnics.
One can enjoy the sunset being anywhere on the beach in the afternoon. However, to enjoy an astounding view of the sunrise, you must have to be on the eastern side of the beach termed as “Jhaubon”.
Want to have a little morning walk through the road which have thousand blooming flowers on both sides of it and enjoy the splendid view of the sunrise? Yes, it’s possible in Kuakata. You can hire a van as well to help you to reach as early as possible if you make a little late to wake up in the morning!
If you can manage to make a deal with any van driver in the previous day you want to break free to move to the beach, then you might find the van driver to pick you up before your hotel or Bungalow before you wake up.
You will be finding the glory of the morning, “the morning sun” rising gradually bit by bit shining from the middle of the sea like a golden plate illuminating the earth.
Kuakata as a business hub potential:
There are colored and pretty well decorated stalls on either side of the beach entrance. There are not many remarkable expensive items in those shops but there indeed exists many things to choose from.
At night, it is wonderful to see the shop items arranged under the light of different colorful tubes and you will want to buy small gifts for your loved ones. No matter how low the price is, everyone will like the Kuakata stuffs.
Over and above, There is also a Rakhine Women’s Market next door where there are local and foreign clothes and lungi cosmetics. In short, Kuakata is now not just a heart winning beach, but a business hub with limitless potential.
Etymological history of Kuakata:
The noun word “kuakata” derived from the Bengali word Kua (proper Bengali alternative Kup), English alternative “well”. An established conceptualized and contextual fact about the origination is that this place was named after a well which was dug by the Rakhine settlers (refugee settlers). It is thought that the Arakanese were expelled from Burma by the Mughal rulers in the 16th century and settled in the area. They dug many wells to fill the insufficiency of drinking water, hence the name Kuakata appeared and found an existence.
Tourist places nearby:
Next to the historic well in Kuakata is a gargantuan Rakhine Buddhist temple. There is a meditative statue of Gautam Buddha placed on a huge altar. The beauty of the statue is all the result of different elements used to build it following the temple of Indochina. It is made of nine metals incorporating gold, silver, brass, cassava, copper, iron, lead, mercury and zinc, weighs thirty-seven pounds and is about 10 feet high. And that is why the statue is called the ninth metal statue.
The statue was first installed in the Panchayat Para in 1925 and later in 1986 the statue was shifted to its present location. There is also another largest Buddhist temple in Asia in the Misripara area, five kilometers east of here renowned as Seema Buddhist Monastery.
Fatrar char is another beautiful place nearby Kuakata.
Other places of interest nearby are as followed:
Shuntki Palli: Jale Palli (The village where only fisherman lives) is located at the western end of Kuakata beach. The dry season lasts from November to March. And this is the best time of catching sea fish and keeping them on the beach to get dried. If you want, you can invest your time observing all the process and the businesses of those fishermen. Particularly, you can buy various sorts of dried fishes at a very cheap rate.
Crab Island: A long way east along Kuakata Beach,Crab Island is a popular spot. Thousands of red crabs roam the secluded beach. During the season which suits and attracts more tourist, from October to March,You might get lucky enough to manage a speed boat from Kuakata Beach to Crab Island.
Jungle of Gangamati: Kuakata beach has come to an end up to Gangamati canal on the east side. And from this place the forest of Gangamati started. In addition to different species of plants, a variety of birds, forest roosters, monkeys, etc. can be found in this forest. To many, this forest is known as the forest of Gajmati.
How to go there:
There are multiple ways to get to Kuakata. You will be getting different buses of government patronized and different private transport companies including BRTC to welcome you on board. Buses of Sakura lmt. possesses scheduled bus two times a day directly from Dhaka to Kuakata in the morning and evening. You can hire car as well directly from Jessore, Chittagong and Dinajpur to Kuakata. Double decker luxury launch and steamer (AC / non AC) leaves from Dhaka to Barisal every evening. And from Barisal, take a bus and you are there!
It’s about launch now! The most convenient and comfortable way to get there is to take a launch from Dhaka in the evening to Patuakhali at 5-6 in the morning. Then Kuakata by road from Patuakhali. The only road from Barisal to Kuakata takes about 3 to 4 hours and from Patuakhali it takes around 2 to 2.5 hours.
However, on the 62 km road from Patuakhali, you might have to suffer a little in two ferries. It is always because of the ferry’s availability and the long queue of vehicles waiting.
Significantly, anybody can move to Kuakata from Dhaka recessively by air. Why recessively? Because one has to board on air from Dhaka to reach to Barisal first as the closest airport from Kuakata exists in Barisal. After reaching Barisal, one might follow the scheduled bus trip from Barisal to Kuakata. And remarkably, the trip might take 2-2.5 hours minimum.
Where to stay:
Kuakata, at present, possesses incredible public and private accommodation facilities. Bangladesh Tourism Corporation settled a motel named “Holiday Homes” there. This motel has several rooms with air conditioning facility. Besides, Patuakhali district council has two VIP post bungalows. There are two rest houses in the local government engineering department. One for those working with the development of roads and highways and the other one is allotted to be maintained under the revenue department. But you will obviously be needing prior permission from concerned departments to stay in any of the rest houses.
In addition, many hotels and rest houses are being built privately. Many of these hotels have been serving excessively well. Each hotel possess all modern facilities. Of these, four sophisticated hotels grabbed approximately all the attention recently.
The hotels are as followed: Kuakata Guest House, Mohana, Kuakata Inn, Banani Palace, Sky Palace, Beach Haben and Niranjana.
Many three star hotels have already been built there and those hotels have been doing their best as well to satisfy the tourists.
Construction Work of infrastructural development of a five star hotel is also underway. The minimum rent of these hotels starts from 800 to 3000 BDT per day. All the gargantuan hotels have all the provisions including conference rooms, foods and restaurants, coffe shop etc.
Hotel,Motel, Costs & Communication:
- Holiday Homes (Parjatan Corporation),Kuakata.
Phone: 01715-0011483
Costs: Non AC Twin_ 1100 BDT and Economy_800 BDT.
- Youth In (Parjatan Corporation),Kuakata.
Phone: 04428-56207
Costs: Non AC Twin_ 1500 BDT and AC Twin_2500 BDT.
- Hotel Sky Palace (Parjatan Corporation),Kuakata.
Phone: 01727507479
Costs: Non AC Couple_ 1200 BDT and Non AC Twin_1400 BDT.
- Hotel Banani Palace Parjatan Corporation),Kuakata.
Costs: Non AC Twin_ 1500 BDT and AC Twin_2500 BDT.
Overall, the accomodation costs ranges from 800-1500 BDT.
What to eat:
Hotels in Kuakata offer their guests food at their own restaurants. In addition, local restaurants also have different types of indigenous special foods to offer.
Written & Edited by Niaz Mahmud Sakib