Motivation behind planning a trip
Sundarbans, where the land meets the sea, where the legendary swamp tiger flies, swims against the current, climbs trees and eats fish. People worship the tiger and, at the same time, hate it too. It has been earned an undeserved fame for being a man-eater. Also, some say that the world’s largest mangrove forest is surviving only because of the presence of these swamp tigers. Tigers are being compared with evil spirits/demons. May be the fear of the omnipresence of the man-eating tigers has saved the forest so far.
Sundarbans, where fish climb trees during high tide and go back to the mud during low tide. All possible kinds of superstitions, misconceptions and truths exist here. Despite the fear of a tiger attack, honey collectors go inside the forest to collect honey, fisherman go fishing as they have no other option.
Whether all these theories about man-eating tigers, behavior of other flora and fauna is correct (certainly, some true) are yet to be answered. Though, within a few days of my visit, i wouldn’t be able to find answers to all my queries, I hoped to find some answers at least. The name Sundarbans comes for either the tree called Sundari or the beautiful forest.
Prologue
Sunderbans was in my mind, since i started following wildlife in August 2010. However, the place is something different - not like other tiger reserves / national parks, where you can book your jungle entry online, book a resort over phone and start your expedition. From Mumbai, it needs co-ordination between three modes of transportation viz air, land and water.
The tiger season got over in June 2014 and the jungle itching started and forced me to plan for the new season (2014-15), which began from October 2014.
As the calendar for the October 2014-June 2015 was almost finalised, our first expedition started with Sundarbans. I have come across a permanent jungle friend and partner in crime, with whom I do all my expeditions. He also agreed. So, the itinerary as follows:
October 22, 2014: Mumbai to Kolkata by air. Reach Kolkata by 8.35 am and proceed to Gadkhali by road. Then the expedition starts by a house boat. For next three days, in the boat.
October 23-24, 2014: Inside Sundarbans - scanning through narrow creeks, various watch towers, etc. Village visit to experience the island lifestyle and meet people.
October 25, 2014: Morning jungle visit and tour ends. Back to Gadkhali, proceed to Kolkata Airport and back to the concrete jungle i.e., Mumbai.
Day 1: October 22, 2014 - The Journey Began
I Planned for the October 2014 to June 2015 season. So, where to start? Which place will it be for the first trip? I was hell bent on doing a few new places this season. I asked my partner in crime and he also agreed for Sundarbans. As Sundabans was a bit costly for the two of us, we decided to rope in some other friends. Also, his friends had been complaining of not taking them for trips. Finally, three more agreed. A team of five was ready to go in search of the legendary swamp tiger at Sundarbans Tiger Reserve. The planning started in July 2014 and air tickets booked immediately. I called my friend Niladri Sarkar to make all the arrangements and he obliged. An exclusive boat was booked for us with a guide, a boatman, a cook and a guy to help.
Finally, the day arrived i.e. October 22, 2014. Four of us from Mumbai boarded the flight to Kolkata at 6.05 a.m. One of our friends joined us from Bengaluru. A high energy team headed for Sundarbans. We all reached on time (at 8.40 am). An Innova was ready at Kolkatta to drop us till the boarding point at Gadkhali, which is about 120 km – a three hour drive. We left the airport at around 9.15 am. Niladri wanted to meet all of us on the way and was waiting with some dry breakfast. Finally, around 10.30 am, we were on the road to Sundarbans.
We could not resist stopping at a rosogulla shop - a small sweet shop, but we tried all varieties. Me being an Oriya guy and my food habits being almost similar, I was gorging on everything. Finally, we reached the jetty around 12.30 and Mrityunjay our guide was waiting for us.
The luggage was loaded onto the boat and we were given a grand welcome by Mritunjay da and his team with tender coconut water. We began our most awaited journey to Sundarbans.
About the boat
The boat had two decks. Lower deck had five beds and a western commode. The other partition of the lower deck has a small kitchen. The upper deck is generally used as a lounge. After settling down, we moved to the upper deck. Lunch was ready. The menu was excellent and consisted of fish fry, Bengali style brinjal fry, dal, roti, salad, two other curries and rice.
Sundarbans is famous for a variety of kingfishers. We were welcomed by the Pied Kingfisher at her nesting point. After lunch, we headed for our first stop at Sajnekhali Watch Tower. On the way, our guide explained to us about the flora and fauna of Sundarbans.
The photo journey starts now.
Our boat waiting for us Boatmen praying before entering the sea Collared kingfisher On the way to Sajnekhali Inside the Sajnekhali Wildlife Sanctuary Back to our boat after sunset
Day 1 ended. We had planned to stay on the boat on the first night. After sunset, it was pitch dark and we anchored our boat at a deserted place.