TRIP TO SUNDARBAN, THE LARGEST RIVER DELTA

I asked the guide on the boat " How many times have you seen the Tigers ?"

After a pause, and  lot of scratching of his Hena ( Red and brown) colored hair, he replied " Well during my 30 years Carrier , I have seen twice".....
 Our gang was busy discussing more important things than Tiger, but the other people in the tour group were disappointed.  We did not come to see tigers but for a get together after four decades. Seeing a tiger was considered as a fringe benefit. I have seen tigers in the zoo and also in the wilderness. So I was not very particular.

We, few classmates in engineering, decided to meet . Our lady engineer flew down all the way from Houston, one from Saudi. It  was a great experience indeed....just meeting friends after 4 decades!!!  
Let me write a travelogue for you...
THE SUNDAR BAN

It is the largest delta, created by the river Brhmaputra and Ganga ( Distributaries of these, have different names in Bangladesh)  and also has the largest Mangrove forest in the world. It spreads over 10,000 sq Km , out of which, 4000 Sq.Km is in India, rest is in Bangladesh. It has been declared as World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It has largest number of Tigers and most of them are habitual man-eaters. The area is criss-crossed by numerous water bodies, where one can get lost and forever ( unless one has a GPS fitted boat. Fortunately one cant travel deep inside the sanctuary and get lost.). For me Sundarban is a dreadfully beautiful place, frighteningly monotonous and lonely...and thats the catch , the monotony gives you enough space for yourself to think about things which you never would have. At the end of the trip into the wilderness you are fresh because you rediscovered yourself.  Please read more on Sundarban in Internet,

THE TOUR

The tour was for 3 days and 2 nights. We were five classmates , unfortunately wife of a friend could not join at the last moment. The tour was well organized , pick up from door and drop you at your door at the end. Most people hire boats and stay over night in the boat. But we could book rooms in the only Govt. tourist lodge located in the reserve forest area.

We started from Calcutta around 7 AM, and reached last road head at Basanti around 11-30 AM. Beyond this place,  you see only islands created by criss-crossing water bodies. Many islands are inhabited and the only means of transport here, is by boat. We were served packed breakfast on the way and it was an exciting experience to break egg shell on your lap, in a moving bus on a bad road..... 

The boat was ready for us. It had 4 double beds in the hull and many chairs on the deck. We were booked in the lodge for the nights and did not have any use for the beds. It was generally used by the sleep-loving people of the other groups. Here the boats are reasonably bad looking but you can hire boats with separate cubicles with bed. These boats are for the people who want to spend night in privacy. You get good big boat-tour operated by West Bengal Govt.
But we were not interested in star hotel luxuries, but to feel  a common man's experience in such trip.
The simplicity of those remote places is the key thing to experience....you can see it from the photo below. I am sure the painter tried his best to put the right spelling of Jungle on our boat.  The word Jungal stole my heart.....See the photo below.


PLEASE CLICK EACH PHOTO TO SEE LARGER VERSION.

The boat "JUNGAL QUEEN" with the captain cum Navigator cum Engine man.

Our boat started with the engine noise exceeding permissible decibel...but again that was exciting too.
We traveled through inhabited islands. I was surprised to see all villages had minimum electricity supply through solar panels. It is impossible to provide regular electricity in a cost effective manner, in those remote islands.

The village house with a solar panel and new straw kept for maintenance, of course the gossiping village ladies were the star attraction. 

Village boats on the Bank

The boat ride continued for 3 hours or so. We saw many passing boats, great water bodies, villages on islands, a great lunch with baby Indian salmon cooked on board and suddenly we saw the picture of a tiger starving of human beings.

The slim Tiger , who did not get any human being for quite sometime.

The Loknath baba Ashram on an island

Finally we arrived at Sajnekhali tourist lodge , the only one allowed inside the Forest area.
The boat landing area and the complex was protected by net, so that Tigers don't come inside.

The boat landing at the gate of Sajne khali  tourist lodge.

THE TOURIST LODGE AT SOJNEKHALI.
The tourist lodge has 30 double rooms with attached bath and the whole building is on concrete stilts. No one stays at the ground level. It is very nice and dont expect a class hotel luxury at this remote place. There is no regular electricity supply. But the complex has its own power generation facility for the night only.

The long Veranda is mostly used by the monkeys and rarely by human beings.

Tourists on a morning walk inside the complex

The diner  and breakfast are included in the tariff, with fixed menu. So there was no headache of choosing any food. It was good, simple chicken curry, dal, egg plant fries and one vegetable curry.

Day-2

We had a nice breakfast with Luchi ( puri) and dum alu. The day two was a 10 hours journey, up and down, to BudiR DabDi river. The boat negotiated wide and narrow water bodies. Every body was on the look out for tigers. Generally tigers are not visible, even if they may be watching you from the hide outs. The luck comes if a tiger is swimming to the other bank  and if you were happened to be there. We could see the fresh pug mark . Looking at the water level on a low tide, the guide concluded " The tiger has swam across 15 minutes back..." ( Who cares if it had crossed 15 minutes or 15 hrs back.)

Fresh pug marks on the bank. ( I had to believe the guide, until I see a live tiger leaving pug marks)

The journey is quite monotonous through the water bodies in mangrove forest. As mentioned earlier, you will never get tired of watching the forest on the bank, slide into some deep thoughts or keep gossiping and giggling with your friends. I preferred to pull a chair and keep gazing at the banks and the forest.
Here are few photographs. Sundarban is a place to be experienced personally and not through blogs.

Bicycles and people going to the other island 

A minor water way , at low tide.

Net at the bank to prevent the tiger to cross over and eat human being on the inhabited island 

Naughty Carmorants, gossiping, you see them in Kerala too

Some trees

Delicious , cute little sweet water crabs for the lunch

Fisher men

Forest on the bank, see the white leaves, coated with salt.

Three men on a boat and moving fast.

The breathers of Mangrove trees.

The supporting roots of the trees

The vastness of the water bodies

BURIR DABRI, ECO-TOURISM COMPLEX
At the boat landing of the complex , I was waiting for the usual drama staged by a guide. And it came . I am quite used to these dramas at all wild life sanctuaries. And I love those nicely enacted dramas,
" Please be silent , I am going to check if there is any tiger inside. In that case we cant go in. Dont leave the boat till I say so". He picked up a twig to defend himself from the tiger.
So he and his assistant went cautiously up the stairs. There was usual argument who would go inside first. Anyway the guide gave final clearance to de-board and follow him.
I was reasonably scared, I mean I pretended, to scare my wife. ( That was a useless effort indeed as she was in a hurry to go and see what was there inside the fencing.)
What did we see after reaching the complex?
"Young children playing around in front of their house, ladies collecting dried clothes, and men feeding goats etc".
I gave a complement to the guide " It was an wonderful drama"
He smiled and said " Thats how I maintain my job...my apologies, I did not know that you were aware of these events".
Anyway it was an enjoyable experience. 

The guide with hena colored hair giving final clearance to go inside the complex.

The complex is good ( with loo) , watch towers, cleared vegetation outside, in case a tiger tries to cross and you see and kilo meter of protected walkway for you and tigers to see each other. (We and the Tigers were not lucky to see each other)
Here are some photos

The watch tower for the tigers, I mean you stand there and the tigers see you from the hiding.

The Tiger told the Tigress from the hiding " I wish we had them for dinner , (one each)".

Protected walkway for Kilo meters through the dense forest. 

The sitting deities, the tiger God " Dakshin Rai " and the Tiger Goddess " Bono bibi." The Goddess protects the tiger and Human beings from each other. People entering the forest for honey collection and fishing must worship the Goddess, irrespective of their religion.

The famous red crabs, not even a centimeter long.

The return journey from Burir Dabri was uneventful. Except that we experienced a brilliant sunset and scary travel through fog in the night. Hats off to the captain of the boat.

Sunset 

Day 3rd
It was again journey back to the road head through the water bodies but through a different route. We saw another Tiger observatory. Here also the tiger spared us. 

The Tiger spared SOMEONE to take care of no-one.

We saw a  boat load of people who were lost as they did not hire a navigator. We told them to follow us.
We had prawns and more baby Indian salmons for lunch. It was 31st Dec and the tour operator surprised us with gifts and a cake.
Here are some photographs taken on our way back, mainly the human beings on the river bank.

The lonely brick transporter.

The village-folks 

And last but not the least, The Slum Dog Millionaire's den 

I have joined few movies clips together. The back ground song is by Ameen of Bangladesh. I am sure you will like it.

Sundarban Video

I am off blog. I am sad to say , I wont be visiting blog regularly due to some unforeseen circumstances. I am sure you will excuse me. I shall be back by April or earlier. Will miss you all for some time.