Wandering in the Vibrant City... Kolkata... Day 3 Part 2

Day 3 Part 2

When we were all settled, the boat was set afloat and the breakfast of Aloo Puri was served along with a fruit… and water… It was quite an experience to maintain the balance on the boat while we took steps to serve ourselves…This boat had a cooking crew and the kitchen was in the deck below… Once the delicious food had settled a bit in our tummies, they serve us with the beverages… It was quite an interesting ride on the flowing water, though it held steady for most part of it… Our eyes all the time was drinking in the beauty of Nature around us…

At first all we could see was the vast stretches of water with some trees in the horizon… As we came nearer we found groups of  islands on either side… 
The boat was sailing midstream… 

Before I narrate the reason let me give tell you what exactly Sunderbans is and its value in our ecosystem.

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Sunderban, is the land of boundless beauty and sublime landscapes. It is named after the tree...  Sundari (Heritiera fomes)...  found there in large numbers… 


It is the largest single block of tidal halophytic (plants that grow in salt waters) mangrove forest in the world and has the honour of being a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a Biosphere Reserve. 

The Sundarban forest covers around 10,000 sq.km of which a major portion is in Bangladesh, while the Indian portion (pic on the right) is estimated at around 4264 square km.  Formed by the confluence of the mighty rivers… the Ganga, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna … the Sunderbans are a part of the world's largest delta situated on the lower end of the Gangetic West Bengal and is the home to one of India’s most iconic wildlife species…  the Royal Bengal Tiger. The waters are crocodiles infested. In Sunderbans, animals and birds are in a natural and an unhindered environment. 


The Sundarbans are also a crucial protective barrier for the inhabitants in and around Kolkata against the floods that occur due to the cyclones.. a regular occurrence…

 


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To continue the with narration… We were sailing in the midstream to avoid being hunted by … The Royal Bengal Tigers… They are known to swim easily across the creeks to the islands and devour the domesticated animals and the human inhabitants at times… Humans can be restricted from accessing the tiger territory but not vice versa…  Our guide told us that some of the womenfolk whom we saw working in their yards had lost their spouse to the claws of tigers and jaws of crocodiles… They were termed as Tiger widows and live in dire straits…


                                                ~~~ oOo ~~~