Cox's Bazar, the world's longest natural sandy sea beach...

COX’S BAZAR
Welcome to beach life, Bangladehsi style. The usual question, ‘Why have you come here?’ doesn’t get asked because the answer is obvious – you’ve come to be at the seaside. Cox’s Bazar is both loved and loathed. On the one hand, it has an impressive beach. On the other, it is becoming carelessly overdeveloped and there are criminal elements to watch out for. Don’t come expecting Goa; just surrender to the enthusiasm of Bangladeshi holiday-makers. There is a good range of hotels, which give generous discounts in the winter season. Alcohol is readily available.
The surrounding area, adjacent to the Chittagong Hill Tracts, runs South Downs the coastline to the Myanmar border. The culture here is less overtly Muslim, or even Hindu for that matter; it has a more Burmese-Buddhist atmosphere.



Cox's Bazar is a town, a fishing port and district headquarter in Bangladesh. It is known for its wide sandy beach which is claimed to be the world's longest natural sandy sea beach.It is an unbroken 125 km sandy sea beach with a gentle slope. Since the rise and fall of the tide here is not great, it is a good place for sea bathing. It is located 150 km south of Chittagong. Cox’s Bazar is also known by the name "Panowa", the literal translation of which means "yellow flower". Its other old name was "Palongkee". The modern Cox's Bazar derives its name from Captain Cox (died 1799), an officer serving in British India. In the 18th century, an officer of British East India Company, Captain Hiram Cox was appointed as the Superintendent of Palongkee outpost after Warren Hastings became the Governor of Bengal. Captain Cox pie was specially mobilized to deal with a century long conflict between Arakan refugees and local Rakhains. The Captain was a compassionate soul and the plight of the people touched his heart. He embarked upon the mammoth task of rehabilitating refugees in the area, and made significant progress. A premature death took Captain Cox in 1799 before he could finish his work. But the work he had done earned him a place in the hearts of the locals and to commemorate his role in rehabilitation work a market was established and named after him as Cox's Bazaar ("Cox's Market"). Although Cox's Bazar is one of the most visited tourist destinations in Bangladesh, it has yet to become a major international tourist destination, due to lack of publicity.



HISTORY
This region was a favorite of the Mogh pirates who, with the Portuguese, ravaged the Bay of Bengal in the 17th century. The Moghs have remained, maintaining their tribal ways through handicrafts and cottage industries, while to some degree also assimilating into the dominant Muslim culture.
When the area was taken over by the British in 1760, Captain Hiram Cox founded the town as a refuge for the Arakanese, who were fleeing their homeland after being conquered by the Burmese. These new refugees Mogh settlers erected a number of stupas on the low hills around town. In recent years there has been a new influx from Arakan, now known as Rakhine state in Myanmar. In the early 1990w at least 250,000 Rohingyas (Muslims from Rakhine) fled to Bangladesh to escape persecution by Myanmar’s military regime. There has also been an influx of migrant workers fro, Rakhine, attracted by the relatively better wages and security. Many work as laborers and rickshaw drivers.


Tourist attractions near the town
Local hotels arrange beachside accessories for the tourists at Cox's Bazar
The beach is the main attraction of the town. Larger hotels provide exclusive beachside area with accessories for the hotel guests. Visitors in other hotels visit the Laboni beach which is the area of the beach closest to the town. Other than the beach there are several places of interest near the town which can easily be visited from town center.
• Aggmeda Khyang: a large Buddhist monastery, and a place revered by around 400,000 Buddhist people of Cox’s Bazar; and the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The main sanctuary is posted on a series of round timber columns. It has a prayer chamber and an assembly hall along with a repository of large and small bronze Buddha images and a number of old manuscripts.
• Ramu: about 10 km from Cox’s Bazar,[14] is a village with a sizeable Buddhist population. The village is famous for its handicrafts and homemade cigars. There are monasteries, khyangs and pagodas containing images of Buddha in gold, bronze and other metals inlaid with precious stones. One of the most interesting of these temples is on the bank of the Baghkhali river. It houses not only interesting relics and Burmes handicrafts but also a large bronze statue of Buddha measuring thirteen feet high and rests on a six feet high pedestal. The wood carving of this khyang is very delicate and refined. The village has a charm of its own. Weavers ply their trade in open workshops and craftsmen make handmade cigars in their pagoda like houses.
• Dulhazra Safari Park: This safari park is an extension of an animal sanctuary located along the Chittagong-Cox's Bazar road about 50 km from Cox's Bazar town. The sanctuary itself protects a large number of wild elephants which are native to the area. In the safari park there are domesticated elephants which are available for a ride. Other animal attractions include lions, Bengal tigers, Crocodiles, Bears, Chitals and lots of different types of birds and monkeys.
Risks and Hazards
The coastal areas of Cox's Bazar are prone to devastating cyclones and landslides on a yearly basis. The areas near the Cox’s Bazar town are located directly in the high risk area for surge water heights above 1 meter as well as landslides. There was a 70% casualty rate near the town area during the 1991 cyclone. Another hazard of the Cox's Bazar area is the high natural background radiation which has been found to be above global average. There has been reported incidents of human casualty due to actions of wild elephants in the locality. The threat of mosquito borne diseases like Malaria also may be higher in the area.However, all these hazards mainly affect long term residents of the area and visiting tourists should be able to guard against these risks with appropriate precautions.
The beach
The main attraction of Cox's Bazar is the long sandy beach that stretches from the mouth of the Bakkhali river going all the way to Teknaf. Although commonly known as Cox's Bazar beach, it stretches far beyond the area designated as Cox's Bazar town.
Tourists and accommodation
Cox's Bazar, arguably the best tourist spot in Bangladesh, is visited by a large number of tourist from Britain, America, Korea, Japan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and many more countries each year. Though there is no specific record in Bangladesh Porjatan Corporation (BPC) on how many people usually visit Cox's Bazar each year but an AFP report says that during the winter 10,000 available rooms in the beach area hotels usually remain occupied almost seven days a week. Accommodation near the beach varies from an expensive range to a reasonable price. Many private hotels, BPC Motels and two Five Star hotels are located near the beach.
Places of interest along the beach
Cox’s Bazar, mostly famous for its beautiful sea beach and the sunset, has several other attractions, including:

Himchari
• Laboni Beach: This is the main beach of Cox's Bazar and is considered the main beach due to the fact that it is closest to the town. Close to the beach, there are hundreds of small shops selling souvenirs and beach accessories to the tourists.
• Himchari: Located about 18 km south of Cox’s Bazar along the sea beach, is a nice place for the picnic and film shooting. This picnic spot is famous for its waterfalls. The road to Himchari runs by the open sea on one side and hills on the other which makes the journey to Himchari very attractive. Its another attraction is the Christmas tree.
• Enani Beach: Located 35 km south of Cox’s Bazar, this white sandy beach is located within Ukhia Thana.This beach is famous for its golden sand and clean shark free water which is ideal for sea bathing. Most tourists prefer to come down here for relaxing because it is free from the crowd of tourists that is usually seen at the Laboni beach.
Mineral content in beach sand
The sand at Cox's Bazar beach and surrounding areas is rich in heavy-metal mineral content. The heavy minerals of Cox's Bazar beach sands are dominated by hornblende, garnet, epidote, ilmenites (both unaltered and altered) with magnetite, rutile, pyrite and some hydroxides. Cox's Bazar beach alone is believed to have a deposit of 5.119 Mt of minerals @ 0.04% mon, while nearby Enani beach is expected to have another deposit of 0.729 Mt. of minerals @ 0.13% mon. Surrounding islands of Maheshkhali, Kutubdia and Nijhum Deep as well as mainland beach in Teknaf area are also believed to have similar large deposits. The total deposit in these locations is about 20.5 million tons of raw sand, which contains 4.4 million tons of heavy minerals (sp gr > 2.9).