Sundarbans Reserve Forest: Day 2 at the largest continuous mangrove forest in the world

 

                                                 Sundarbans Reserve Forest

Continued from my last post Sundarbans Reserve Forest: the largest continuous mangrove forest in the world

Day 2: We checked out of our hotel at 8 in the morning and got into our launch for our 2^nd and last day at Sundarbans (yes, a very short trip:) Breakfast was prepared and served in the launch. Hot luchis (fried refined flour bread), aloo sabji (potato curry with gravy), and tea was the menu, and exactly what we needed to start the day with :)

Our first stop was Sajnekhali and this is the place where a permit is obtained to get into the reserve forest area. Sajnekhali has watch towers which provides  a good view of the mangrove forest a. We saw monkeys and river terrapins during our stop here. With the permit done, our launch ride continued through the waterways and it was evident that we were in the reserve forest area now. Our next halt was Dobanki where we walked through an enclosure and got an amazing view of the beautiful mangrove forest. From Dobanki, our launch took us even more into the interiors of the reserve forest, and into some of the narrowest channels and waterways in Peerkhali. Much to the delight of my nephew, this was his first visit to Sundarbans and his first experience of sighting a crocodile outside of a zoo, we finally saw a crocodile, deer, and pug marks! Yes, pug marks ( this time I was not that lucky:( could not sight a tiger and had to be content with pug marks this time)

Bird activity was remarkably low because of the high tide; we could not see any birds, other than a few sandpipers and egrets. Rest of the trip was generally a leisurely ride. We were happy to just be, and enjoy the natural and peaceful surroundings over another fresh and tasty lunch:)

Our trip ended with another brilliant sunset. There is nothing like a sunset amidst mangroves and water bodies, and of course a hot cup of tea. Life is good:)

Overall, it was a short and enjoyable trip with the family amidst natural surroundings.

A few recommendations from my experience of Sundarbans:

1. It is best to do Sundarbans by reserving a launch if you are a big group of 10-15. The experience is much better this way. You can customise everything and get the best out of your Sundarbans trip.

2. The best time to visit Sundarbans is from Jan-March. It is really nice then.

3. One caution though, if you have elderly people travelling with you, please let the travel agency know in advance so that they can provide necessary support to help the elderly in and out of the launch. It is a bit uncomfortable for people who have knee or joint problems to navigate their way into and out of the launch.

Here are some pictures from our Day 2.

                                                                                         These are know as tiger palms since these provide a great camouflage for tigers because of the colour

    Crocodile basking under the Sun, and ready to grab anything! Thankfully the deer was far away:)

      The picture above and on the right of River Terrapin is courtesy Soma Jha.

.
    Well, yes, these are pug marks...not so clear but that is all we could get!

    An old building near the resort we stayed in                      This old, non-functional church caught our                                                                                                                             eyes