A Trip to Sundarban
Sundarban is the largest mangrove forest in the world is a river-riddled swamp region of shifting tides, man-eating tigers and the adventure tourism spot in West Bengal. Sundarban Tour is very popular among adventure lovers tourist like me. This tourist spot shares with two densely populated countries (India and Bangladesh), yet it is mostly inhospitable and uninhabited by people. The wild terrain, ferocious yet beautiful animals drive tourists all over the world around the year and I being one of them.
To get to the heart of the swamps you would have to take a three-day Sundarban tour to dive into the majestic marshy land. The land gets its name from the abundance of “Sundari” trees or Mangrove trees. So, to get an overwhelming feeling of this aesthetic forest I took a three-day leave from my hectic schedule.
Day 1
I booked Sundarban tour through Mercury Tour Operator (www.mercurytouroperator.com) under “Sundarban tour package” for “Sundarban Tour for 2 nights and 3 days”, and they organized it from the EM Bypass and Maa flyover connector, Kolkata. On February 16, so as per the journey starting time I reached there around 08:15 am. I was very pleased with their welcoming style with packed breakfast. Around 11 noon we reached Godhkhali and the motorized boat pulled the anchor up and started to sail from Godhkhali ferry ghat. It sailed via Gomor river, Hogol river, Matla river. After an hour passed it was announced to gather for the lunch. I had rice, murighanta dal, beguni, vegetable, prawn, bhetki fish, chatni, papad, curd. Now when I had finished, I went back to deck to have a view of mangrove forest and river. We have visited the Sajnekhali watchtower and the mangrove interpretation center. The boat reached Sundarban Pakhiralay at 5 pm. We disembarked the motorized boat and check in to the Sundarban hotel, after two hours we had a beautiful evening with the cultural entertainment program in Sundarban hotel followed by chicken pakora with mesmerizing tea, entertainment program was set up which is called Bonobibi Yatra Pala. We all enjoyed the dance performance of the locals with some tribal outfits and cool breeze added flavor to it. Around 9:30 pm it was requested to gather for the buffet dinner. Being a Bengali I could not resist myself from having the tasteful mutton kosha, it was finger-licking, after dinner I went back to my room for 7-hour sleep.
Day 2
It was February 17, I woke up at 6 am and found that there was a tiger attack last night at a village and everybody was giving their opinions about the matter. I fresh up myself and went to the dining hall for breakfast. The breakfast was well served with nanpuri, chana masala, sweet and a cup of tea. After breakfast was over everyone was requested to board to our motorized boat for going through the creeks and thick mangrove forest. There were two boats accounting forty people for Sundarban Tour. As we went deeper into the forest, I saw footprints of tiger whose mark was not yet dry which means the tiger came there a few minutes ago and we saw crocodiles having a sunbath and small sea fishes being caught by the seagulls.
Dobanki Tour
After this adventurous ride, we came back to the Sundarban boat for lunch. I had rice, dal, fry, veggies, rui fish, crabs, chatni, papad, and ice cream. After we all had finished our lunch boats arrived to take us to the Dobanki Watchtower via Saptamukhi River. It was again a mystic and lots of adventure packed boat ride. While we were going through the creeks in a distance we saw the yellow-black striped tiger. It was huge and a middle-aged as the guide said. After we finished our photography there, we were headed to Jharkhali Eco Park which is famous for Tiger rescue center, Butterfly park. Jharkhali Eco Park is a nice place to see during the Sundarban tour package. while returning to the hotel we visited Sudhanyakhali watchtower and the mangrove nursery.
Back to Sundarban Hotel
On the way, we saw a small crocodile playing in the water. unfortunately, I could not take any picture of the aesthetic crocodiles. From there the boats headed towards the Pakhiralay as it was going to evening. After we reached the Sundarbans hotel. we went to our respective rooms to get refreshed from the day’s boat ride. A local musical band was setting up their instruments on the deck for the evening performance. Around 6:30 pm the program started, it was a beautiful performance of the local songs and folks with some mesmerizing dance as well. With great performance, I had tea with some veg pakoras. At 9 pm it was announced to gather for dinner. I was pretty excited about the food because anything you ate in that environment it would give an extra flavor to the food. There were lots of items on display to eat but I chose fried rice and chili chicken and a fresh green salad. After the great meal, I headed to my room for sleep while others were still sitting on the Sundarbans hotels garden and gossiping. I was feeling sad because slowly but surely the journey was coming to an end because tomorrow was the third and the last day of the Sundarban tour.
Day 3
On the third day i.e. February 18, I woke up a bit early to capture the beautiful sunrise through my camera lenses. As it was the last day of the Sundarban Tour, I decided to spend some time with the local village people. After having aloo paratha, veggies, sweet and tea for breakfast I started walking around the Sundarban Village. I saw the culture and the lifestyle of local village people. Today the lunch was a bit early like around 12 noon because we have returned to Kolkata by evening. On this last day lunch, I had rice, dal, fry, vegetable, doi katla, chatni, papad. It was finger-licking doi katla. After having lunch we started towards Kolkata. On the way, we visited Hamilton Saheb’s bungalow at Gosaba, and it was the only 2 pm in the afternoon and I went back to the bus to see the photos that I have clicked during this journey. At around 5:30 pm we reached the EM By-Pass, Kolkata. At last this memorable journey to the swampy marshy land came to an end it was a true piece of wonder nature has to offer us.
To Know more
Please Call +91-8902495917, 8910339424, 9163424988
Mercury Tour Operator
207/171, B.T Road,Baranagar, Kolkata 700036
