Scintallating Sunderbans

Scintallating Sunderbans

Sunderban is a paradise at your fingertips

Sunderban is without any doubt the most exciting, colorful and enjoyable tourist spot in Bangladesh. If a tourist pays a visit to all the famous tourist spots in Bangladesh, will surely agree. A visit to Sunderban has many dimensions. It is not only about the most beautiful mangrove forest or the Royal Bengal tiger but the whole aspect of traveling in the picture perfect natural forest is something that can take the breath away. Touring Sunderban gives memorable experience about traveling in the river by boat, watching wild animals, walking along the forest and also bathing in the sea. The Sunderban gives all the opportunities at your fingertips. If the tourist has a special eye for the nature or seeking any one of the followings- the trees, the unknown herbs, the thorny bushes, the tranquility of the nature, the vastness of the waterways, the swings of the sea, the fresh and unpolluted air, and the desire for mental peace-Sunderban is the place to visit. There is no tourist spot in Bangladesh that has so much to offer to a tourist.

There are many ways a tourist can arrange a visit to the Sunderban. An easy way is to take a launch from Khulna or Mongla with an experienced tourist guide with necessary items. There are many organizations in Dhaka and Khulna, who can arrange such tours with reasonable price. All the forest stations inside Sunderban are very attractive place for enjoying natural beauty and watching wild animals. Any tourist group has to take permission from the forest department before entering into the forest. The forest department provides armed guard for the safety after the payment of charge.

Sunderban is divided in many island like structures surrounded by numerous cannels and rivers. The structure of this largest mangrove forest is quite unique. A seemingly impossible to cross fence, made of different wild bushes, surrounds each and every island that constitutes the Sunderban. So if a tourist is thinking about entering the wild Sunderban and take part in adventure much like a foreign movie, please note, it is not possible. The tourist can only enter through some specific forest stations. Please remember that there is no or very little fresh water available in the Sunderban. Sunderban does not have vegetation for human living. That is particularly why there is no human civilization in the Sunderban. People enter in the forest after taking permission from the authority. They take all the necessary items for living while they stay in the forest. They leave the forest as soon as they finish their work.

Journey through Sunderban can give some memorable experience. Nature with its unbound beauty will charm any heart with its color and mystery. A tourist will never feel bored. The banks of the forest are decorated with ever changing vegetation. The “Hetal” forest will give some space for the “Gol Pata”, then again the Sunderi tree will try to make feel its strong presence. The “Geoa”, the “Pashur”, the “Bine” tree with all their magic will throw a strong spell toward a nature loving person. Just looking at the ever-changing natural scene on the both banks of a cannel inside the forest can make the journey towards the Sunderban a worthy and memorable journey.

But deep inside the forest, there is grassland, which is covered with sporadic cluster of trees. These cluster forests with different kinds of trees in the plain grassland offer exceptional beauty. These cluster forests provides ample opportunities for tigers to live their majestic life. The grassland attracts deer to roam in and around for food. Tiger comes to the grassland by following the deer. The grassland provides the perfect hunting ground for tigers.

Visiting Sunderban will give ample opportunity to observe wild animal. A tourist can feel certain about watching deer, monkeys along with many beautiful birds. If the lady luck does not turn back, there is very high possibility of watching crocodile. If the tourist is extremely lucky, like us, they can even have a chance to observe wildcat in its natural environment.

Monkeys can be seen hanging from the trees. Some time small group of monkeys can be seen sitting on the high branches of the trees nearby the waterways and watching people on the motorboats sailing smoothly in the cannel. Tourists shout with joy looking at the monkeys but sometime the monkeys behave so gently that it becomes difficult to determine who is watching whom. Wild hogs live near the water bodies. They love to dwell in the mud nearby the cannels and also in the wetlands covered by Sunderi trees. The cannels of Sunderban are full of crocodiles. Particularly there are few rivers and numerous cannels, which are very famous for breeding eggs and rearing offspring. It is exciting to see crocodiles basking under the sunshine on the banks of the rivers. Many types of fishes and sharks also inhabit the waterways of the Sunderban. So it is truly an exciting place to visit.

If a tourist likes to be thrilled, he can follow the footsteps of the Royal Bengal tiger in the grasslands in the heart of the forest. The tiger point, the Jamtala watchtower, is popular spot for watching tigers. A tourist also can enjoy watching deer herds moving freely in the forest. The tourist can take a country boat and ply through the narrow cannels in the heart of the forest and can glimpse wild hogs digging the wetland adjacent to the water. A tourist can hear chirping of birds as well as can observe riverine birds flying over the rivers. If a tourist takes a launch through some selected rivers can watch crocodile basking in the heat of the sun on the riverbanks. Many tour operators include these activities in their package tour program for general tourists.

Our maiden journey through Sunderban gave us ample pleasure and memories to remember forever. Our guide was a very experienced person. He was a very well known tourist guide. He was very famous by the nickname “Bagh Mama” or “Tiger uncle”. He had a collection of many true stories about hunting tigers or crocodiles. He had been visiting Sunderban area for over forty years. He was telling us many stories about the wild life of the forest.

At the dead of the night, while we were preparing for sleep in the launch cabin floating on the river, “Bagh mama” was telling us about some enthusiastic foreign tourists who preferred to go to the forest at the dead of the night. Some of us decided to take his challenge seriously and asked him to take us to the forest at the middle of the night. He agreed to take us near the forest by a country boat. Some of us just jumped on the boat for fun. He took us by a country boat as near as possible to the forest. He had a powerful torch light with him. He was trying to spot some animal in the nearby forest. Hurrah! What was that! We really spotted something alive on a broken branch of a tree. First of all our guide ignored it as a mistake of our eyes. But one of us was very confident that it was an animal sitting on the branch. He took the torch light from “Bagh mama” and spotted the animal correctly. The boatman stopped rowing the boat. We were all speechless. We stood still and saw with amusement and disbelieve. The animal was none other than a tiger! Yes, a tiger was sitting on the branch of the tree. It was totally ignorant of our presence. The torchlight was aimed directly at the tiger. We could see that the tiger was busy cleaning its face with his mighty claws, much like a domestic cat. We could see stripes on its shoulders. My heart jumped with joy, I whispered that it was a Royal Bengal Tiger, at least a baby tiger. But our guide did not agree. He claimed it to be a fishing cat-a spotted, majestic, grown up fishing tiger- preparing for hunting. We all mourned that neither of us had any camera with us to capture this wonderful memory. So, it is not impossible to see a tiger. A tourist just can be lucky enough to just observe a Royal Bengal tiger.

Sunderban can satisfy any type of tourist, it can fill the heart with joy. From the deck of a launch, particularly at the time of sunrise or at the moment when the sun is setting behind the forest line, it seems that there can be nothing except heaven that can be comparable with the tranquility and peace of Sunderban. Truly there is no place like Sunderban. The ever-changing natural beauty on the banks of the river will make you spell bound. There is climax every moment you look at the banks of the river. If you have the heart and the eye, the natural beauty along can fill your heart with pleasure and happiness.