Friday 29th December, 2016 ঃ Kolkata - 8:30 am Car - Vaya Baruipur, Canning - 11:30 am Sonakhali - Launch Gosaba 5:30 pm Aviary - Aviary Overnight
Saturday 30th December, 2017: Launch at 8:30 am - Sajanekhali, Sudhanyakhali, Dobanki - Return to the aviary at 7 pm Overnight
Sunday 31st December, 2018: 9 am Launch - Jharkhali - 7:30 pm Sonakhali - Car via Vaya Canning, Baruipur - 9:30 pm Kolkata
We went to the Sundarbans and saw a tiger (yes, I am starting this article with this exciting information without any introduction, Vanita. If you want to know when, where, how, you have to read the whole article!). On Friday, December 29, 2016, we set out for the Sundarbans to spend the last three days of the year in the jungle. This time our team is 32 people including 4 children. Not to mention anyone else's names separately, but those of us who go together regularly, they were all. A team of 32 people can be called a small conducted tour. Earlier we took such a large group to Chandipur, but everyone there was the same age and therefore somewhat like-minded. This time there were two and a half to eighty people in the team, so it was not easy to manage everything, but I can say that everything went well.
Our journey started at 8 am on Friday, December 29, 2016. Not all of the 32 people live in one place, so a total of three Tatasumos and one winger picked up people from different parts of Kolkata and left for Sonakhali. The distance from our house to Sonakhali is about 72 km, but it took about an hour to reach Tao (sometimes we only stopped for half an hour for tea).
The car dropped us off at Sonakhali Ghat. We are about to launch from this Sonakhali ghat. When I reached there, I saw that the fair was sitting. I heard that a lot of people go to the Sundarbans in the last few days of December, but he had no idea how much. There is a launch on the jetty, people are getting up in a hurry, the launch is leaving the jetty. If a launch takes a little longer to pick up people or luggage, the rest of the launch crew is scolding him. Anyway, we got on our launch in such a hurry.
The Upper Declaunch thing of the launch I had ridden before on my way from Mumbai to Elephanta, but these launches are not exactly like that. There are lower decks and upper decks - there are five double beds on the lower deck where ten to twelve people can sleep comfortably if desired. There is also a toilet on the lower deck. The upper deck has chair leaves, dining area, etc. The lower deck is surrounded by a few windows. The upper deck is open all around. The upper deck is great for viewing, so most people sit on the upper deck. Our launch left Sonakhali jetty at quarter to twelve. The launch gets sunny, but it doesn't get hot at the end of December, so it's very enjoyable. Shortly after we got on the launch, Luchi gave us curry. Let us inform you that we are doing this Sundarbans tour with 'Biswas Travels'.
Lower deck of the launch Our journey is three days, on the evening of the third day we will return to Sonakhali and our journey will end. These three days we spent around the launch, staying the night at the hotel, eating all day - the total cost per capita is 3,650 / -. This is Biswas Travels' package tour and the whole launch is ours as our team has a large population.
It takes time to sit on the shore from the launch and take a picture of the two sides, especially the kind of scene I have never seen. The launch is moving on the water of the river and on both sides there are sometimes locales, sometimes open spaces and sometimes or vegetation. The jungle thing didn't start that way then.
After a while he gave us fish fry at launch. After about two hours, our launch fell into a big river - the name of the river is Vidyadhari river (the name of a tributary of the Hooghly river read in geography books as a child, remember?). This is our first view point - Gosaba. After our launch stopped at Gosaba Jetty, we got off the launch. The first two places to visit are Hamilton's Bungalow and Bacon's Bungalow.
We got down from the Hamilton Bungalow and walked for ten minutes before reaching the Hamilton Bungalow. Sir Daniel Hamilton came here in 1918 and Gosaba improved a lot. The bungalow cannot be entered, the doors are closed. However, the place is quite beautiful. There is a big pond in front of the bungalow. We wandered around here for a while and then proceeded to our next place of view - the Bacon Bungalow.
Bacon Bungalow It takes about fifteen minutes to walk from Hamilton Bungalow to Bacon Bungalow. The feature here is that Rabindranath Tagore stayed in this bungalow for two days on 30th and 31st December 1932 at the invitation of Sir Hamilton. There is a large statue of Rabindranath Tagore here. In front of the bungalow is a large field and the whole is surrounded by a wall. Here also the bungalow cannot be entered.
We didn't have to leave the Bacon Bungalow and go back to the previous jetty because there is another jetty next door and our launch has already arrived at this jetty. We left the launch after getting on the launch. At three o'clock in the afternoon, I got hungry and as soon as I got up at lunch I saw that lunch was ready. It is possible to have lunch with 12-13 people at a time, so we finished our lunch in three batches. The lunch menu was rice, pulses, fried, vhetki fish soup, chutney etc. The food will be given as much as you want. Some even give more than one fish if they want. But we didn't come here to eat, we came to visit the Sundarbans, so unnecessarily overeating is not only unhealthy, it is also a bit annoying.
It was four-thirty when the sunset over the river was over. Then he gave us one orange each. The winter afternoon ended early, and after five-thirty the sun went down. The view of this sunset while on the water is amazing, especially since we don't usually get a chance to see it. The launch took a creek from Vidyadhari river and came to Datta river. This is the bird sanctuary along the Datta river - our place to spend the night. It was six o'clock in the evening when our launch arrived at the aviary jetty.
The first lodge to come down from the launch is ours. The name is Chital Lodge. There are a total of ten houses here and we have taken all of them. Six out of ten beds and four out of four beds. We shared the house at our convenience. The evening snack was purple, everyone went home and came with them. We had nothing else to do in the evening, so we walked a few feet to get around. The aviary is almost a village, but there are a number of hotels / resorts in the Sundarbans that attract tourists. We walked to the aviary market. There is a place on the way here, from there you can see many launches on the river with their passengers down and standing in the middle of the river. The launches are not particularly visible in the dark of night but the light inside them is visible. And in the darkness, it is beautiful to see these different colored lights, it looks like a fair of light is sitting on the river. We learned from our launch guide that no launches are near the wharf at night, everyone goes to the middle of the river and anchors. The reason for doing this is that it is risky to stand on the jetty when the tide comes at night, as the jetty may break due to the push of the launch by the water and the launch may also be damaged.
After returning from the market, we spent some time chatting from house to house. He gave us dinner at ten o'clock at night. We have a lawn in front of the lodge, with a canopy for dining. It gets quite cold here at night, so hot meals were very much needed. And if that food is khasir meat with rice or bread, then there is no point. After eating, we went to his house and went to bed.
The morning foggy day at the aviary is Saturday 30th December. I woke up at six in the morning. Coming to a new place doesn’t mean sitting at home in the morning, so I went out with the camera. When I came out of the house, I saw that it was covered with thick fog. I came out of the lodge and saw nothing on the water. After wandering around for a while, I came back to the lodge.
After a while our launch came to the shore and our guide took tea and gave it to everyone in the house. Everyone was told to get ready by eight in the morning, because we had to get out. There is no geyser in the bathroom, but there is a man who goes from house to house with a bucket of hot water. It was almost quarter to nine when the launch was ready.
Our first destination is 'Sajnekhali', out of the watchtower of Sajnekhali. The place is on the other side of the river, it took fifteen minutes to cross the river. There is an eco-tourism complex in Sajanekhali. There is a Watchtower here, although nothing can be seen from there except the tree head. Here we saw beautiful trees. The tree has no distinctive features, but the stem looks quite beautiful. Maybe that's why it's called. There is a pond next to it, there we saw a gossip and a crocodile. There is also a small museum, where we have been out for a while.
Sundari-Garan-Gewa etc. trees can be seen in the Sundarbans region. Since these trees cannot collect enough water and oxygen from the non-soil, a part of their roots protrude above the ground. These are called respiratory roots. There are such breathing roots all over the place. Our guide told us to stand on these. Things don't look very tough, but I stood and watched. Our guide said that when a tiger catches a human or any other animal, it still has life in its body. Then the tiger carries his body over such a breathing root. These roots then injure the body, and most of the time the animal escapes in agony.
Our entire team does not make the launch from the jetty in Khalekhali. The entrance and exit gates were separate and our launch was waiting for us at the exit gate jetty. As I said earlier, the Sundarbans is very crowded on this last day of the year, and people are giggling at this Sajnekhali jetty just like the previous day's Sonakhali. After we got on our launch, the launch proceeded towards the next destination Sudhanyakhali.
On the way to Sudhanyakhali, it takes about three hours to launch Sudhanyakhali from Janekhali. Shortly after boarding the launch, he gave us breakfast. The menu included kachuri and curry. The lunch is good and our cook's cooking is excellent, so the food is delicious. Shortly after breakfast he gave us chicken pokora again.
The feature of a journey by launch is that the scenery here is almost the same - we are advancing along a bank of a narrow or wide or very wide river and on either side mainly jungle, sometimes locality. But this never seems monotonous despite the repetition of the same scene. Hour after hour of launching on the water is a great experience and we have thoroughly enjoyed that experience.
At about half past twelve we reached Sudhanyakhali. There is a Watchtower in the jungle where tigers can be seen. However, if you want to see a tiger, you can't see a tiger anymore, you need special luck for it. One thing to keep in mind is that the Sundarbans tiger is the 'Royal Bengal Tiger' - although they are not huge in size, they are world famous for their beauty. They are named after the royal temperament in their behavior. We are ordinary people, ordinary people - we have gone to Rajasaksha. It is not right to expect the king to appear to us if we want to, the king will act according to his own will.
From Sudhanyakhali Watchtower We came down from Sudhanyakhali Watchtower after seeing the head of a tree for a while. On the way back, I saw a board in one place, it says who has seen tigers in Sudhanyakhali in the last two months. There is a pattern between these times and that is that they are all between four in the afternoon and six and a half in the evening. I learned from our guide that tigers are usually seen very early in the morning or in the afternoon because at this time they come to the water's edge to drink water. Tigers usually rest after eating and there is no point in expecting to see them at this time.
The same is true in Sudhanyakhali - where you don't get off the launch. We got on the launch and headed towards Dobanki, the third and final destination of our day. Dobanki is about an hour and a half from Sudhanyakhali, so he gave us lunch at this time. The menu of the day is rice, pulses, aluvaja, parshe fish jhal, chutney, panpar etc. It was almost three o'clock when lunch was over and we reached Dobanki.
Dobanki was the best place I had ever seen in Dobanki. There is also a Watchtower, and from there we see a herd of deer. It's afternoon, it's time for the forest animals to drink water. We saw seven or eight deer, came out of the forest, crossed a footpath, went down to a pond, drank water, and after a while returned to the forest. It's a great sight and we really enjoyed it. There were two gossips nearby, which we owe (no, the gossip did not attack the deer, because the deer is not the food of the gossip). After descending from the Watchtower, we proceeded along a path surrounded by a net. It's actually a bridge, for walking. About fifteen feet above the ground, this path has been made for tourists to walk. If you are lucky, you can see tigers from here. We did not see the tiger, but we saw the footprints of the tiger in one place. The impression is not fresh, it is quite a few days old. Still, the footprints of the tiger! What is that or less?
Sunset over the water - On the way back from Dobanki, we got on the launch from Dobanki and headed back. We have moved a lot south from the aviary, so it will take a long time to return. We got on the launch at 4:15 and our guide said it would be 7 o'clock to reach the aviary. The experience of going around all day by launch is definitely good but this launch trip back to the aviary from Dobanki is a great experience. When we got on the launch and walked a little, it was sunset time. And we saw this sunset on the Vidyadhari river. Vidyadhari is a very wide river, not seen here and there. When the sun sets in such a place, it seems that the sun is actually setting in the water. After sunset there is light in the sky for a while and then it is completely dark. Darkness has a beauty of its own, I've seen it before, but I've never realized that beauty by riding on a launch on the water like this. A little later the moon rose in the sky. The full moon is two days later, so the moonlight is quite strong. This is a wonderful experience. It seemed that the longer it took to reach the aviary, the better, the more you could enjoy this beauty of nature, the better you could be immersed in this beauty! (The feeling is mine, borrowing the language, I can't remember where, but I'm grateful to the author from everywhere)
By seven we reached the aviary. After a while he gave us the evening snack. This one thing they didn't make very well, the thing didn't taste so good to eat. Anyway, at least they didn't go down without explaining themselves first.
Not sitting at home doing anything in the evening, so we went to the aviary market again. You have to buy some things when you go on a trip, you have to go to the market and buy some things like that. I returned to the lodge around nine o'clock at night. Had dinner at ten o'clock. The menu was fried rice and chili chicken and the two recipes were great. I didn't see any stinginess in feeding them from the first day, and that was maintained in this Chinese menu as well. After eating, I went home and went to bed.
the last sunrise of the year - the bird sanctuary Sunday 31st December - the last day of 2018 and also the last day of our tour of the Sundarbans. We got ready and got on the launch with our luggage. We will not return to the aviary, we will go to Jharkhali first by launch and from there we will return to Sonakhali. After arranging everything, the launch left at nine o'clock in the morning. It takes about three hours to go from the aviary to Jharkhali and this journey is the same as the previous day - great!
A tiger cage has been set up across a vast space within the Royal Bengal Tiger Zoo. The place is so big that the tiger may not even think that he is actually in a cage. Many trees, knee-high grass, ponds - all in all, have created a tiger-friendly environment. We are walking along the edge of the cage hoping to see Baghmama. Suddenly I heard such shouts of "seen, seen" and "very close" and ran to reach there and made our journey to the Sundarbans a complete success - Shardul Samrat alias Dakshinaraya aka Royal Bengal Tiger! (Yeah, we've seen tigers like that. And I've never claimed to have seen a tiger on the water's edge or anywhere else.)
Never seen the Royal Bengal Tiger so close to Rajasaksha, the scene is really worth seeing. The age of the tiger can be understood by looking at him, but the royal feeling is fully present in his walk. After standing in one place for a few moments, the tiger started walking again. After a while, the tiger went in the opposite direction, honoring us with his royal vision. Enough has been seen, enough pictures have been taken on the camera, so this time we made our way out of the zoo. Oh yes, I did see a few crocodiles in the tiger cage, but I'm less interested in reptiles, so I'm not going to talk about them anymore.
The Sundarbans tour is over, the tiger sighting has been successful, so this time we got on the launch and headed back. From Jharkhali our destination is Sonakhali where we have to wait for the car. We got on the launch at half past noon. It will take about five hours to reach Sonakhali from Jharkhali. After a while he gave lunch. The last day's menu is called bumper. Bagda shrimp malaikari has been added with rice, pulses, aluvaja and pona fish. There is no denying that the size of the shrimp is quite large and that the malai was not grammatical but linguistic. The last day's meal was a little better.
Time passes by sitting on the launch deck. From noon to afternoon, from afternoon to evening. The launch reached Sonakhali at half past six. We got in the car from the launch with our luggage. The car system is similar. I entered the house at about ten o'clock at night. This is the end of the Sundarbans tour.
Summary:
1. In West Bengal, apart from the mountains and the sea, the jungle is a great place to visit. The only way to get around here is by water and that is a special opportunity.
2. To reach Sundarbans from Kolkata, one has to drive to Sonakhali. Launch from Sonakhali.
3. Package tours are usually done in the Sundarbans. You can also travel with West Bengal Tourism, you can also take packages from private people.
4. We went with 'Faith Travels'. Their stay-eat-rotation is all very good. Contact: Subrata Biswas - 98325456.
5. We had a whole launch because of the large population in our team. It is possible to go even if there are less people, but in that case there will be other people at the launch.
. He left the launch from Sonakhali and took it to the aviary. The tours are done from the aviary and stay here at night.
. The aviary place is quite beautiful though absolutely village. Our lodge was right next to the jetty, an added convenience.
. There is a mosquito infestation in the lodge even if it is not on the water, so it is better to take such mosquito repellent.
9. Since the whole journey is basically in water and it is not possible to get any locality whenever you want, it is necessary to keep the necessary medicines with you.
10. Having a small child with it is not supposed to be a problem here. The food they serve is fairly home-cooked and can be easily run by children.
Sundarbans. Famous for beautiful trees. Famous for its remarkable combination of water and forest. Famous for its scenic beauty. Famous for Royal Bengal Tiger. He is famous for crossing the river and attacking tiger villages. It is famous for the death of people who fall prey to tigers while fetching honey or wood in the forest. Famous for risking extreme human risk for little money. Famous for man’s defeat in man’s battle with nature. He is also famous for winning the battle of life by defeating that defeat. Although the Sundarbans is visited by tourists all year round, winter is the best time to visit. It is crowded at this time but there is no such difficulty in getting around. The Sundarbans is a great place to visit, very close to Kolkata. Water, jungle, animals, nature If any one of these charts seems to be enough reason for anyone to go, then he must go to the Sundarbans once!
