Beautiful Sundarbans

  Sundarbans National Park, West Bengal, India Thursday, September 18, 2014

Well this is somewhere we had never heard of until we booked our place in Kolkata and saw reviews on Trip advisor speaking about them. So we looked into it and thought they sounded too good to miss. The last wild habitat of the Bengal Tiger and populated by about 250 tigers, this was definitely a good place to spot them. We found a greatly recommended agent named Backpacker Tours and they took us to their Eco-Village set up about 5 years ago which is about 120 km out of Kolkata. Our guide for the whole trip was Ajay, one of 3 brothers that owned an ran the whole thing. On the way to the Sundarban region the landscape really changed.First going south from Kolkata, passed the slums and the mega refuse mountain which people scavenge on and we could actually see tents on it through our camera zoom. The canal alongside ran for quite a way out of Kolkata and gosh did it stink. And it wasn't even a particularly hot day. Then it changed to a brick making landscape. Brick furnaces and piles of bricks everywhere. A bit further along and it became a fishing scape. fields were intentionally flooded to produce prawns and other fish in. Eventually though it just became pretty. Little mud houses with thatched roofs lined the road and banana trees and palm trees everywhere. Paddy fields all along the road gave the whole area a really lush green feel. We felt like we had left India for sure. As we were so close to the Bangladesh border, we wondered if this is what Bangladesh looks like - if it is we want to go there! We had to transfer by boat to the island we were staying on and Ajay and his brothers owned the one that collected us at the jetty http://tinyurl.com/SundarbanTiger Our accommodation in the Sundarbans is a mud hut. We knew it was going to be though so it wasn't a shock! Quite cute really with a fan, a shower room with toilet, the all important mozzi net over the bed and lovely view from the doorway across to the village. We had a lovely lunch almost as soon as we had arrived, and then Ajay suggested a walk through the village but we pointed to some very dark clouds. "It won’t rain here" says Ajay and like numptys we believed him. 10 minutes down the road and the heavens just opened on us. Even though we took an umbrella each (just in case) we were still soaked through. The worst bit though was getting back to the village. The rain had made the pathways which were compacted mud, extremely slippery and very very muddyNow we understand why most villagers walk barefoot here but the thought of what the mud was made of put us off doing that! After we had dried off and the rain had stopped, we were taken out on a little rowing boat (the rower stood up and waggled the oar from side to side at the back which was really effective). It was getting late in the day and the sun was going down so everything was still and the water so still. It was beautiful. Ajay was with us and he took us right through the mangrove forest. Literally. We came out the other side with bits of it sticking to us! On the way through it he pointed out the tree crabs which as their name suggests, live in the trees of the mangrove. By now the sky was fantastic colours as the sun set further and we got some truly beautiful photos. Back to camp though a quick freshen up to get the rest of the forest out of our hair and time for dinner which was again deliciousThe food was all included in our package and we certainly didn’t go hungry. It was a bit of a shame that we were the only guests staying that night as it was a bit quiet but then Ajay got some rum out and we all played "shithead". We remember this from when we travelled before, all the backpackers played it so we were not surprised Ajay knew it. The next morning we were off early - 6:45am and off on the nice boat we arrived on that first day. First we had to pick up a cook - as we were spending the whole day on the boat that was good to hear. Then we had to stop at the Tiger reserve, check in and pick up a guide. Apparently you have to have a guide as they act as a sort of policeman too. We spent the most wonderful day gently cruising the waterways keeping our eyes peeled for tigers. We saw many kinds of birds including the every rare Brown Winged Kingfisher, the common kingfisher, the collared kingfisher etc etc. We saw many monitor lizards which Ajay says is quite a rare sight, and a bright green Pit Viper which is apparently is one of the world’s most poisonous snakes. We saw deer, wild boar, monkeys, loads of stuffBut no Tigers….. The one thing that did make the day special however, was a sighting of the incredibly rare Irrawaddy Dolphin. We had been extremely lucky to see them when we were in Laos a few years back and we took a trip down the Mekong river. Where Laos, Thailand and Cambodia meet, the countries are split by the Mekong river and this was also home to the Irrawaddy Dolphin. It was fantastic to see them the first time so to see them again was just amazing. So we were on a high still as we headed back at sunset (it had been a very long day) and Ajay informed us a group of local folk musicians were coming to play for us before dinner. A quick freshen up again (the shower is surprisingly good for a mud hut) and we were pleased to see we had some other guests for company - an Indian couple and a German couple. We all settled on rugs on the floor before the lights were turned off and some lanterns litTe musicians started up and we made all the right noises, clapping at the end of each song but then….. 1 1/2 hours later they were still going. We wouldn’t really mind but Indian folk music is accompanied by singing. To us as we knew none of what they were singing about, was more like wailing and screeching. We decided the only way they would shut up was if we stopped being polite, stop clapping and just ignore them. Even the Indian couple had walked off! Our plan worked and they packed up their instruments and we thanked them profusely for playing for us (we don’t think they understood that though). Then we spent a couple of hours chatting to Johan and Hauke who just happen to be heading to Andaman on Monday. Wonder if we will bump into them? All in all we had a brilliant time in Sundarban. We shall have some memories from here which we will keep a long time. If you are ever near Kolkata tun this is a must. [gallery columns="4" ids="8418,8421,8424,8426,8432,8438,8441,8446,8450,8455,8467,8471,8479,8494,8508,8515,8523,8529,8537,8546,8551,8556,8563,8570,8576,8585,8592,8600,8609,8619,8628,8642,8648,8655,8667,8678,8686,8696,8705,8716,8721,8730,8735,8746,8752,8759,8766,8770,8777,8783,8788,8793,8800,8815,8821,8831,8834,8844,8860,8872,8878,8884,8888,8896,8903,8909"]