Into the beautiful forest

The possibility of seeing a tiger in the wild will always be the main attraction in the Sundarbans. Yet, there is so much more

The Mirgamari River is gentle with just a hint of an outbound current. Our boat glides through the water sending chevrons of ripples to each of the opposing banks. The air is warm and humid, with only a hint of a breeze. Standing on the foredeck, with binoculars focussed, I watch the Sundarbans drifting by as I have done so many times before. Nipa palms line the banks, alternating with mangroves, their green foliage reflected in the river. A kingfisher stretches its blue wings and swoops from a branch to the Mirgamari, returning to its perch with a small fish in its flattened beak. A pair of Gangetic dolphins arc into view ahead of the boat, as if escorting it downstream. Scanning the treetops, I see a white egret watching for prey from on high. A sea eagle launches itself into flight while a troop of monkeys, invisible but noisy, chatter about us as we pass.

The Sundarbans, meaning ‘beautiful forest’, covers close to one million hectares spread across the Ganges River delta in south-western Bangladesh and south-east Bengal in India. While much of the Sundarbans is forest, an impressive 1,75,000 hectares on the Bangladesh side of the border are waterways, such as rivers, creeks and canals.

On land and in the rivers there is a veritable menagerie of wildlife, with well over 300 species of birds, 60 species of reptiles and 50 different mammals. Most are predators. The sea eagle, with its impressive wingspan of more than two metres, dominates the skies. The prehistoric estuarine crocodile rules the rivers, but the majestic Royal Bengal Tiger is the undisputed emperor of the forest.

We, a handful of adventurers from Bangladesh, Canada and Europe, boarded our boat at Mongla. We are travelling through the forest as far as the Bay of Bengal with the hope of seeing as many native species as possible. Top of the wish list, of course, is the tiger. They are rarely seen, but I have been fortunate in the past. During the course of many visits I have been surprised by occasional tigers on the river banks; I have found their tracks deep in the forest and, on one noteworthy occasion, met a full-grown male swimming across the river in front of my boat.

The rare possibility of seeing a tiger in the wild will always be the main attraction for visitors to the Sundarbans. Yet, there is so much more. Although it is possible to cruise the waterways for days without encountering other people, these rivers and the dense forest are busy with workers. Fishermen work their nets in twos and threes, sometimes assisted by trained otters. They take varieties of fish, plus shrimps, prawns and mud-crabs; wood-cutters fell trees, which are loaded on barges and taken to port by river sailors. Other workers cut nipa for roof-thatching purposes, or harvest sungrass for the same use. Between the beginning of April and mid-June, honey gatherers extract honey and beeswax from large natural hives.

The forest is never still. A day and a night spent on the tiger watchtower at the southern end of Jawtoli meadow close to the Bay of Bengal proves the truth of that statement. Spotted deer and wild boar roam the grasslands and surrounding woods. Rhesus macaques swing through the trees. Colourful birds and insects live out their short life-cycles and, just occasionally, when one hopes but least expects it, a Royal Bengal Tiger steps into the sunlight for a second or two.

For me, just being on a boat drifting through the waterways and watching the never-ending activity is an experience I’m happy to repeat over and over again.