Bangladesh

National Geographic, Photo of the Day (January 13, 2012)

Golden fields in Bandarban, one of the hill districts in southeastern Bangladesh. 

Praying.

Crowded Nouka

Photograph by James P. Blair

North of Dhaka on the Lakhya River, a wooden country boat, or nouka—overcrowded and barely above water—symbolizes Bangladesh as aptly as does its national flower, the water lily. Often the only choice for travel, boats ply some 5,200 miles (8,400 kilometers) of waterways. Though overflowing with 112 million people crammed to approximately 2,700 people per square mile (roughly 1,045 per square kilometer), Bangladesh abounds in what it needs most: prottasha—hope.

—From “Bangladesh: When the Water Comes,” June 1993, National Geographic magazine

Man Pulling Poultry Baskets

Photograph by James P. Blair

Toting a tower of poultry baskets to market, a van ricksha driver pedals the streets of Dhaka, awash in backed up monsoon waters. Even waist-high flooding does not stop work in this teeming capital of nearly six million, which lies less than 25 feet (7.6 meters) above sea level.

—From “Bangladesh: When the Water Comes,” June 1993, National Geographic magazine

A Char

Photograph by James P. Blair

Many sections of land are like saucers, with riverbanks forming their rims. Silt raises the riverbeds, not only creating chars [islands of silt within rivers] but also causing the rivers to spill over their banks, sometimes carving out a new course. … At Sadullapur the Meghna River ate away 200 feet (61 meters) of earth in ten days.

—From “Bangladesh: When the Water Comes,” June 1993, National Geographic magazine