Holiday Diary - Day 2

Into the Sundarbans jungles

I woke up early, around 4:30 am and I found that the sky was already lightening. It looked like 5 am in Chennai. It struck me then, that darkness had fallen early the previous evening, around 6:00 pm itself while in Chennai it would be around 6:30 this month. So Kolkata was probably 30 mins before us in actual time. (probably a difference in longitude).

Since I was the only one up at this time, I pottered about the small lawn outside the room and did my early morning stuff in the lap of nature - no, not morning ablutions. But Gratitude diary, meditation, breathing, prayer, etc.... It was fabulous to be out here and enjoy the morning bounty that nature threw at me.

There were so many kinds of birds flitting about the place. A woodpecker was trying to break through the window.

early morning visitor

wants to build a nest here?

By the end of that hour, I was hungry and roused up someone from the kitchen to get me tea. We were to start early with breakfast at 7:00 am and depart by 7:30 to go into the Sundarbans by boat. So I woke up my family and got them ready for breakfast which was a very simple one – just poori bhajis. By 7:30 we were all out on the dock just outside the resort and boarded our transport for the day – a boat that was far more spacious and sturdy than the one we travelled on yesterday.
It had a deck on top with a small platform for us to sit and watch the sights. Below that it had a room with six beds which the crew presumably slept in.  It was manned by a captain and his first officer who was also the cook.

We were eager to get a glimpse of the royal Bengal tiger in his own abode. But Chotu and Ali kept reiterating that it was not something that can be guaranteed. They said, we’ll see crocodiles, deer, birds and an assortment of reptiles but the tiger is very elusive and we’ll be lucky to get a glimpse of one.

We were taken to a forest office to get permissions for entry into the protected area where we had to give a photo ID and a forest guard was assigned to accompany us for the day. There is a small museum adjoining this office which had pictures and info on the fauna and flora in this region. This was now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the Govt was mandated to protect it the way it is.

This was our first glimpse of the tiger

  

And other creatures of the Mangroves

There is a watch tower there in this enclosure from which we could not see any moving creatures – except birds. We were told that a tiger was captured a few days back close to this office and was under treatment in this center. But we were not allowed into the compound where it was kept.

We left soon after, minus Chotu and Ali but but plus a new addition – the forest guard. This guard was full of information that he felt duty bound to share with us. It took him half an hour to realise that we were just politely pretending to listen to the same lines repeated over and over again. This forest is 2570 sq kms and there are 273 tigers here as per the last census. It covers 54 islands and the submerged areas inbetween.

As we chugged along the waters we passed a few other large and small crafts. Large in a relative way. One such craft, an all black one, we were told was a Bangladeshi vessel that was passing through trading. Apparently Bangladesh was just 50 kms away and India and Bangladesh shared a river as a border. It’s only then that I noticed that most crafts were plying our Indian flag while the Bangladeshi one was looking very different and didn’t seem to have a flag. I might have missed seeing it though, so don’t quote me on it.

The landscape was so different than what I’m used to. The water was choppy with small waves and very muddy. The banks were dark grey in some places and dark green in others. Trees were at the waters’ edge and some of them were even under water. Grassy slopes, grass growing out of water, gnarled roots, thick dark mud, red leaves on the banks… The colours, sights, smells were all so different from any other place I’ve ever visited.  But no sign of any animals. Then I noticed that there was a net at the banks and I was told that beyond the net was the forest and it was there to prevent the tiger from swimming across to the opposite bank and get into unprotected areas.

notice the fence?

Within half hour we turned off the river into the actual forest and this turn was guarded by a patrol boat of the Forest Guards. We were now finally in the Reserve Forest – the Mangroves of the Sundarbans. We had our eyes peeled out for any sight of the royal tiger or the crocodile. We waited and waited and waited…..

We saw small boats with scantily clad tribals stopping at the banks and getting into the forests. Our guide told us that these were honey collectors who are allowed to go in and collect honey

Honey collectors in their country boat

He also says that these people lead very risky lives because invariably one of them get attacked by a tiger when they go inland to collect honey.

Soon we realised we had company. A buzzing sound filled our ears and we realised we had uninvited visitors on board a small swarm of bees. Akshaye was leaping about trying to avoid them but that didn't stop them. Soon we kinda got used to them except for Akshaye who kept an eagle eye out for them and tried avoiding them.

The landscape which was so beautiful when we started soon became monotonous. My kids were restless and my younger son Akshaye, swore that we were going in circles and that he’s seen the same patch of forest, the same driftwood and the same floating leaves just a little while back and that we were wasting time.

Our tempers were getting frayed, and we were ready to call it off by noon. Just 4 hours had gone and we'd already lost hope that we will get to see our cat today.

Just wave after wave of water and bank after bank looking all the same and without any serious creature we could boast about, even the guide started feeling sorry for us. Luckily our cook had made some lunch for us and we all attacked it hungrily. There was plain fare - rice, dhal, brinjal and more potatoes. Looks like potato is the staple vegetable in this region.

After lunch, our guide took us to a dock which was attached to an observation tower. The water hole had an otter and a monitor lizard lazily swimming in it. After a one hour wait there a few deer were spotted in the thick bushes but they didn't venture out to expose themselves

observation tower with a water hole and observation lines cut into the forest cover.

After an agonising wait, we were done looking for this elusive creature and decided to call it a day and return to the hotel. 

We sadly wended our way back to the dock near the hotel and dragged ourselves to our room. 

Tomorrow we are planning to start early to reach Calcutta in time for lunch. Akshaye wanted to get into the swimming pool and didn't want to waste any more time here.

Night was more potatoes in the form of aloo parathas and aloo curry. Gawd help!