Kaptai

Introducing Kaptai

It takes a special sort of person to find something positive to say about Kaptai, 64km east of Chittagong. You could wax lyrical about its gorgeous lakeside setting or proffer poetic praise about its mountainous backdrop, but let us not kid ourselves here. The scenery might be breathtaking, but Kaptai itself is the proverbial hellhole. In some dim and distant age, this former hunting reserve must have been idyllic but nowadays it’s a smoky, dirty port town full of grim-lipped soldiers, noisy trucks spitting out ice-cap melting quantities of fumes and, almost certainly, lots of ladies of ill-repute out to please said soldiers and truckers. (OK, if there aren’t lots of these kind of girls then there certainly should be.)

On a positive note Kaptai ghat looks quite picturesque at night. The town is known for its large dam and hydroelectricity plant but don’t even think about trying to take pictures of them.

Kaptai is a flat town with one main street where you’ll find all the (highly basic) eateries, hotels, boarding houses, teahouses and general stores. At the dam wall there’s a crane that lifts stacks of bamboo, ferried in incredible-length rafts across the lake, over and into the Karnaphuli River, from where they float down to Chittagong.

So why, if it’s so grim, should you go there? Simply, it makes a good goal for a longer boat trip from Rangamati, but try and leave Rangamati in the morning, allowing you ample time to amble down the waterways and return to Rangamati by nightfall.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009