Sundarbans, the world’s largest and only tiger dominated mangrove forests, covering about 10,000 Sq Kms of land and water is a recognized ‘world heritage site’. About 40 per cent of Sundarbans is in West Bengal, India and the rest in Bangladesh.

IT’S A DELTA FOREST formed here from the sediments deposited by three great rivers - the Ganga IN INDIA AND Brahmaputra and Meghna IN BANGLADESH. The whole FOREST is interlaced by a intricate network of interconnected waterways. SOME OF THESE ARE LARGE BEING TWO TO FOUR KMS wide, WHILE OTHERS ARE AS SMALL AS CREAKS. All these ARE FED by the diurnal tidal flow.

Sundarbans, because of its proximity to Bay of Bengal, enjoys a heavy rainfall and IS VERY humid. Monsoons are usually between mid June to mid September, after which fair weather prevails TILL mid March.

Sundarbans have been named after the Sundari trees (Heritiera fomes). Other vegetation which are common are Garjan (Rhiziphora.sp), Goran (Ceriops.sp), Baen (Avicennia officinalis), Keora (Sonneretia apetala), Hental (Phoenix peludosa) etc.

Sundarbans is said to have been ONCE the home of the javan rhinocerous and water buffalo. BOTH ARE EXTINT IN THE REGION NOW. Today it boasts of BEING THE HOME TO the royal Bengal tiger APART FROM LESSER CATS SUCH AS THE fishing AND THE JUNGLE cats AND OTHER ANIMALS SUCH AS wild boar, spotted deer, rhesus macaque etc. ITS waters SERVE AS AN ABODE OF THE dolphins, estuarine crocodile, monitor lizard, olive ridley turtle, Batagar baska, A NUMBER OF POISONOUS AND NON-POISONOUS SNAKES etc, APART FROM A WIDE VARIETY OF FISH AND MICRO ORGANISMS.

Birds also live here. Some OF THE OFTEN SEEN ONES ARE openbill stork, LESSER adjutant storks, white ibis, FIVE variety  of kingfishers, egrets, herons, terns, owls, raptors, EAGLES  etc.

Ruins are found in the Baghmara and Netidopani areas. ACCORDING TO HISTORY Chaand Saudagar built a city here sometimes between 200 to 300 ad. Much later, during the moghul Empire, Raja Basant Rai and his nephew Dakhin Rai took refuge in the Sundarbans from the advancing armies of Emperor Akbar.

The local population is dependent on the forest in MORE WAYS THAN ONE. About 50,000 villagers enter the forests every year to collect timber, firewood, honey and catch fishes in the adjoining waters. The Sundarbans is home to the HIMALAYAN bee Apis dorsata. There is an annual migration of thousand of colonies of honey bee into Sundarbans beginning in December and continuing until January and February. The main period of honey production takes place during April and June.

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Sundarbans Report | Photographs

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