Nature & places

The Chittagong Hill Tracts: landscape and peoples

The Chittagong Hill Tracts encompass wooded ridges, valleys and diverse communities whose homes and working landscapes deserve more than a scenic glance.

The Chittagong Hill Tracts comprise Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban in southeastern Bangladesh. Ridges and valleys give the region a different shape from the country's broad floodplains. Streams, cultivated slopes, forests and settlements form a lived-in landscape, while Kaptai Lake is a reservoir created by a dam, not a natural lake. Chakma, Marma, Tripura, Mro and other communities have distinct languages, histories and cultural practices. No single costume, festival or village can represent them all. Jhum, a form of shifting cultivation, is part of some livelihoods, alongside orchards, trade, salaried work and many other occupations. Land, displacement and access to resources remain sensitive subjects. A visitor need not claim expertise to behave respectfully: ask before photographing people, follow local advice and check current access requirements. A market conversation or an ordinary journey can offer more understanding than treating someone's home as a backdrop for adventure.