Emon Monzurul · CC BY-SA 4.0

River, lake and haor, Gaibandha

Balasi Ghatবালাসী ঘাট

Time needed
Two to three hours with a boat ride.
best months
Nov–Feb
Cost
Boat hire, shared by the group.

The Jamuna landing at Phulchhari, where ferries cross to Bahadurabad in Jamalpur and country boats go out to the chars: wide water, sandbanks and river life.

At a glance

River
Jamuna
Across
Bahadurabad, Jamalpur

About

Balasi is a working ghat, busy with launches, cargo and people crossing the river. In winter a short boat ride takes you to chars where families farm the sand and graze cattle; in the evening the sun sets across a river several kilometres wide.

The landing has tea stalls and fresh fish; it is popular with people from town on holidays.

Getting there: About 10 km east of Gaibandha town by CNG or auto-rickshaw.

Things to do

  • Take a boat to a nearby char and back for sunset.

Good to know

  • Wear life jackets; the current is strong even in winter.

Getting there

Read the Gaibandha guide

Nearby

Mosque and shrine

Mirer Bagan Mosque

9 km, Gaibandha

An old domed mosque in a garden setting near Gaibandha town, with a revered grave beside it; one of the district's best-known historic mosques.

Mosque and shrine

Shah Sultan Gazi Mosque

9 km, Gaibandha

An old mosque linked by tradition to Shah Sultan Gazi, a saint said to have brought Islam to the area, with his shrine near by.

River, lake and haor

Bahadurabad Ghat

20 km, Jamalpur

The Jamuna ghat at the end of the railway in Dewanganj, where from 1912 whole trains were ferried across the river to Tistamukh; the rail ferry is gone since the Jamuna Bridge, the river and the ghat remain.

Fort and palaceBhoboghure · CC BY 4.0

Naldanga Zamindar Bari

24 km, Gaibandha

The old house of the Naldanga zamindars, a colonial-era brick mansion with temples and ponds, now worn and quiet.

Monument and memorialFiruz Ahmmed · CC BY-SA 4.0

Kamalpur battlefield and memorial

25 km, Jamalpur

The border post at Dhanua Kamalpur, Bakshiganj, where Sector 11 fought the Pakistan army from July to December 1971, one of the longest battles of the war; a memorial, the graves and now a land port beside it.

River, lake and haorTanvir Rahat · CC BY-SA 4.0

Chilmari River Port

30 km, Kurigram

The old river port on the Brahmaputra, sung of in the bhawaiya "O ki garial bhai", where boats still cross to Rowmari and the chars over a river several kilometres wide.

Location

Balasi Ghat, Gaibandha
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