Chandranath Hill, Guliakhali Beach

In our busy life, the desire to get a little fresh air is always there. For this mission, a group of students of Comilla University’s archaeology department arranged a one- day quick tour of Chandranath Hill and Guliakhali sea beach at Sitakunda in Chittagong.

To begin with, we went to Comilla railway station at 4am to board the Chittagong Mail train to Sitakunda. After about three hours, we reached Sitakunda station. We had breakfast and started our journey for Chandranath Hill by a CNG auto-rickshaw. Chandranath Temple is situated on top of Chandranath Hill, which at 1,152 feet (350 metres) is the highest peak in Chittagong district.  

Chandranath Temple is a famous ‘Shakti Peeth’ (shrine) where, as per Hindu sacred texts, the right arm of Goddess Sati fell. The temple, also known as Sitakunda Temple, is a pilgrimage site for Hindus. At 8.30am, we started climbing Chandranath Hill. After visiting the temple, we took some rest. And later, we started walking to Guliakhali beach.

Guliakhali beach is one of the lesser known beaches of Bangladesh. The attractive beach is also known as Muradpur beach. From Sitakunda to Guliakhali is about 8km and it took us 50 minutes to reach the destination. Another alternative way is by Beri Bari road, 10km from Sitakunda Bazaar.

The beach was full of greenery. The breeze from the sea touched our hearts. There was only one tea stall on the beach. We forgot the pain of our journey. Have you ever seen a beach with green beauty?

The sea beach is near mangrove forests. Before you reach the beach, you will get a feeling of travelling through a beautiful forest. If your luck is good, then you can see the deer or two, the locals said.

At 1pm, we reached the beach, the tide was high and together with the sea, there was a feeling of visiting the Sundarbans. Really, the place was wonderful, and we will remember that day for a long time.

Finally, we went to Sitakunda Bazaar and took a launch at 3 pm to go to Sitakunda railway station for returning to Comilla University.

The writer is a student

of Archaeology at

Comilla University.

Photos: Waz Karany