Tanguar Haor
Wetland Reserve · Tahirpur, Sylhet
A vast seasonal wetland under the Meghalaya hills in Sunamganj - roughly a hundred square kilometres of water, reed and village mounds that fills in the monsoon and concentrates into bird-thick lakes in winter. Declared a Ramsar site in 2000, Tanguar is the second great wetland of Bangladesh after the Sundarbans and has become the centre of a booming houseboat culture: sleep-aboard boats that cruise the haor for a night or two out of Tahirpur. Winter brings tens of thousands of migratory ducks; the monsoon brings a horizonless inland sea with hills behind it.
Tahirpur Boat Ghat, Tahirpur, Sylhet, Bangladesh
The haor itself has no gates or hours - access is by boat, organised around dawn departures from Tahirpur and Sunamganj ghats. Practical seasons: monsoon (July-September) for full water, winter (December-February) for migratory birds; core sanctuary areas are restricted in bird season. Houseboat trips run year-round but thin out in the low-water months.