Bengal New Year & Charak Worship Photo Tour Bangladesh
One of the most adventure tour in your life!
The honey-hunting Sundarbans tour is one of the most thrilling eco-adventures globally. Running annually from late March through early June. This expedition is an exciting adventure and an amazing documentary photography experience that allows you to join local Mawalis (honey collectors) deep in the mangrove forests to harvest wild, organic honey.
Another exciting experience on this tour is exploring the Charak Worship. Charak Puja is an ancient Bengali Hindu folk festival dedicated to Lord Shiva. Celebrated on Chaitra Sankranti (the last day of the Bengali calendar), it marks the end of the year and aims to eliminate past sufferings while bringing prosperity and a bountiful agricultural harvest.
Key elements of the worship:
- The Charak Tree: A tall wooden pole is erected, representing the union of Shiva and Parvati. Devotees (sannyasis) are suspended from the top by iron hooks pierced into their backs and swung in circles as an ultimate sacrifice of devotion.
- Extreme Penance: Devotees perform acts like fire-walking, dancing with flames, and body piercings to appease the deity and test their spiritual endurance.
- Cultural Fairs: The rituals are accompanied by folk songs, drumbeats, and local fairs
Discover the most colorful Bengali New Year and the Mongal Shovajatra rally, a UNESCO World Heritage-recognized event. Hindu ritual festival, the Charak worship, the most traditional and folk festival, the floating watermelon market, the stone mine, and more. In this expedition, you will explore Bangladesh’s rich festivals, people, daily life, and culture with amazing photography opportunities.
Trip Date
Date: 12-23 April 2027,
12-23 April 2028 and
12-123April 2029
Duration: 12 Days 11 Nights
Extension: 2-5 Days Extension Available
Tour Type & Group
Photography Tour & Workshop
Small Group
Maximum 8 Participants.
+ One Photographer Guide
+ One Tour Manager
Skill Level
Suitable for ALL Skill Levels,
Novice to Advanced or
Beginner to Professional Photographer.
Physical Fitness
Easy to Moderate,
Suitable For Any Mature Age Level.
Day 01: Arrival in Dhaka, Bangladesh
An Image Tours representative will greet you at the airport and then take you to the hotel for check-in and rest. This evening, introduce our Photo guide, Mr. Yousuf Tushar, followed by a special welcome dinner & enjoy the slideshow presentation, interact with Tushar, and you will get more information and ideas that will be helpful for your journey. (L.D.)
Photoshoot: Streets Photography in the central city.
Day 02: Watermelon floating market & Old Dhaka City
In the morning, after breakfast, check out of the hotel and start the journey to the Sundarbans forest for Honey Hunting. On the way, we will stop at the river port to shoot the watermelon floating market, where farmers bring their loaded watermelons on local boats. Dozens of boats carrying thousands of watermelons arrive daily at Dhaka’s riverside terminals. As the harvesting season peaks, massive shipments of the juicy fruit are arriving in the capital from the southern districts. Workers unloading watermelons from local boats then store them in the wholesale market. Hundreds of watermelon stacks look like small mountains. It’s an amazing experience in the fruit market. Hundreds of watermelon stacks look like small mountains. Also, you will be shooting green coconuts, red apples, oranges, and other fruits at the wholesale market. This afternoon photoshoot at old Dhaka city, street photography and old Dhaka city, it is the beating heart of Bangladesh, filled with colourful cycle rickshaws, street vendors, markets, fascinated faces and some of Dhaka’s most iconic colonial buildings. It is the sort of place you could return to repeatedly and come away with completely different images.(B.L.D.)
Photoshoot: Watermelon floating market, wholesale fruits market, Rickshaws (Tri-wheeler bicycle), Peoples and Traditional Costumes.
Day 02: Dhaka – Sundarbans Forest
In the morning, after breakfast, check out of the hotel and start the journey to the Sundarbans forest for Honey Hunting. We will drive to the Mongla port, and this afternoon, we will arrive at the Port, then board the houseboat for the Journey to the Sundarbans forest. Staying in a houseboat is the ultimate way to experience the Sundarbans. We’ll anchor in secluded river channels each night and wake up deep within the mangroves. Our boat will cruise towards Kotka Wildlife Sanctuary and you will have the opportunity to observe fisherfolk at work in the channels, using a variety of fish, crab and shrimp-catching gear. After arriving at Kotka Forest station, we take a boat trip or a walk along the wooden walkway and enjoy the sunset. (B.L.D.)
Photoshoot: Sundarban forest & Sunset at the Kotka forest beach.
Day 04 – 05: Honey Hunting
On day 4 and day 5, we will shoot on honey hunting. Explore the most adventurous way Mawalis (traditional honey collectors) go deep into the mangrove forests to harvest wild, organic honey. Documenting the honey-harvesting process of the Mowalis in the Sundarbans is a thrilling, culturally rich photographic journey. You capture every step of their dangerous expedition—from river-bound mangrove navigation and spiritual rituals to smoking hives and high-tree extractions—into deep tiger country. We will follow our pre-selection of a Mawali’s work in teams of 8-10 men. They spend up to two weeks living on a single wooden country boat serving as their floating shelter. The team will show us every step of the honey collection process in the Sundarbans forest. (B.L.D.).
Photoshoot: Honey Hunting.
Day 06:Sundarban – Dhaka
In the morning, our boat will arrive at the Mongla port. After breakfast, we will drive to Dhaka. On the way, we will stop at the riverbank to shoot beautiful sand textures. The dry season brings a striking transformation to riverbanks and beds. The dry season is the best time to witness beautiful sand textures, ripples, and patterns in rivers, as receding water levels expose the riverbed. The reduction in water flow allows the sand deposited during the high-flow season to appear, often forming intricate, wind-sculpted, or water-carved shapes. Continue shooting on the river, we will also turn our lens to the local fishing boats. The sight of hundreds of small local fishing boats lining a river creates a stunning, rhythmic landscape that reflects deep-rooted cultural and economic ties to the water.
(B.L.D.)
Photoshoot: Beautiful sand textures and fishing boats in the river.
Day 08: Batik Village & Rice Factories
Drive through to northeast districts, and on the way you will explore the largest tie-dying fabric center in all of Bangladesh, a place where workers dye fabrics by hand and spread them on the ground or on racks to dry in the baking sun. This riot of colour changes every day and we will spend some time creating images of the workers of the cloth while exploring lines and composition in photography. Continuing our visual odyssey, we delve into the captivating world of rice factories. Amidst the rhythmic symphony of bustling workers, our cameras artfully frame the choreography of labor, capturing the intricate processes that transform rice from field to table. The lines of rice paddies stretch their lush green hues, a testament to nature’s bounty.(B.L.D.)
Photoshoot:Batik Village, sun-dry rice process & children playing.
Day 06: Red Chilies – Yogurt Factories
This morning we will enter the biggest hub of red pepper/chili in Bangladesh, explore the most spectacular red chili processing on sundry, village people drying red chilies sundry on the courtyard, While sorting the peppers they create peppers lines in the yard. You will enjoy a wonderful feeling while sitting at the end of each line picking the chilies and capturing this scene on your camera. Next, driving to Dhaka, on the way we will stop villages and photography on curd and yogurt making by traditional process. You will explore every step of curd making from collecting milk to the final production of crude. (B. L.D.)
Photoshoot: Red chilies and crude factories.
Day 10: Charak Worship
Explore the most interesting Hindu ritual festival the Charka worship. A group of Hindu devotees performs the rituals of Charak Puja. It is a very enchanting folk festival of the Southern Belt of Bangladesh and West Bengal. It is also known as “Nil Puja”. The believers of the Hindu religion celebrate this on the last day of the Bengali month of the year (Chaitra Songkranti). People believe that the festival will carry prosperity by eliminating the sorrow and sufferings of the previous year. Before hanging on the Charak tree devotees paint their bodies and faces, and perform folk dances and ritual activities. (B.L.D)
Photoshoot: Charak Worship, Village fair.
Day 11: Bengal New Year
Celebrating the most colorful and the biggest festival of Bangladesh. Explore the UNESCO World Heritage MONGAL Rally, Folk and cultural events. People wear colorful traditional dress, Sharee, Panjabi, Gamcha. End of the day you have free time for shopping at the market near the hotel. Special Farewell Dinner tonight, spectacular views over the city, and time to review your images by Yousuf Tushar. (B. L.D.)
Photoshoot: Peoples, faces, Rally, traditional costume, and cultural activities
Day 11: Rice Harvesting
This is the best time to harvest rice in Bangladesh. Today, we will visit a remote rural area, where all the villagers are busy harvesting and drying rice. Here, a group of farmers are harvesting rice, then loading the rice on buffalo carts and bringing it to the yard, where the rice is threshed. On the other hand, the women of the village are busy drying the rice, the rice is being dried in rows in a huge courtyard. It’s really an exciting environment to make stunning images, where every villager will make you feel at home. (B.L.D.)
Photoshoot: Whole shooting on rice harvesting.
Day 12: Chicken Market- Departure
Early Morning Explore the chicken market. In this market poultry vendors display live chickens in pyramid-shaped baskets made of twine so that customers can buy the chicken of their choice. After breakfast prepare to check out the hotel. According to your individual Flight departure time, we will drop you at the airport and bid a fond farewell. We hope your unforgettable memories call you again to this land and show up your Bangladesh’s great images. (B.).
Photoshoot: Chicken Market.
Learn post-processing like a pro
We know what your images need
Bring the touch of perfection to your digital images
Our photography expeditions are not only a simple photo trip it’s a photography workshop. Whether you are a beginner, keen amateur or professional photographer we want you to get the best possible pictures on every our tour. Each of our participants will get the right infield guidance from understanding all camera settings, creating outstanding compositions, perfect exposer on the different light conditions, developing a personal style to finalizing ideas in image editing software.
We also put emphasis on Image Post-Processing which is extremely important nowadays. We will hold post-processing panels where we will teach you the workflows in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom and some additional plug-ins we use to make your pictures stand well apart from the rest. We will try to allow enough time for you to post-process your pictures while on the tour, and hopefully you will go home with your prime shots ready for the showcase.
You will learn how to
Included in the Cost
Not Included in the Cost
Yousuf Tushar MFIAP, Tour Leader
Tushar is recognized as one of the leading freelance documentary photographers in Bangladesh. As well as being a Travel & Art photographer, writer, instructor, organizer, and judge of National & international photography competitions. He is the only MFIAP, Master Photographer of FIAP in Bangladesh, the highest photographic distinction of the International Federation of Photographic Art. He has years of experience guiding photo tours & workshops. His broad & long-time experience in Travel photography, Organizing, teaching, and prestigious international award-winning made him one of the best photographers in Bangladesh. He has excellent knowledge of the perfect places to capture a photo of every location in Bangladesh. He loves to help with hands-on experience in a Creative learning environment while out in the field, and he absolutely loves leading photo tours! Since 2005 he has been working full-time as a professional photographer, he has traveled to many countries as a travel photographer. His works have been published in The Times UK, The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Forbes magazine, BBC, National Geographic, Daily Mail, Sunday Post, Express UK, The Sun, The Atlantic, USA Today, and renowned international photo agencies. His photographs were exhibited in different international photo exhibitions in Asia, Europe & USA. He has won more than a hundred National & International prestigious photographic awards, including HPA-UNESCO China, Emirates Photo Contest, Asahi Shimbun Japan, United Nations IYC Singapore, People & Planet Australia, PX3 Paris, CBRE Urban Photographer of the Year, Link Lady, SIENA International, A Photo Reporter, New York-Manhattan, celebrating Life Bangladesh and numerous FIAP & PSA patronage awards. He is the President of the Bangladesh Photographic Society and is the Operational Member of the FIAP. More Details about him
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