For quite sometime now we’ve been wanting to make a trip to the Sunderbans before it becomes a victim to global warming. Already, I am told, the water levels have increased both in depth and lateral expanse.
We started by making reservations with the West Bengal Tourism for a 2-night, 3-day trip to the Sunderbans. It cost us ~Rs.5,500 per person for the cabin. There was also a coup option that offered more privacy (and hygiene, as we learned later!) for ~Rs.13,000, but it was already booked. One could also book at the lower deck at a cheaper cost (~Rs.3,900). But its access is via a very steep ladder leading down into the deck. It’s not a pleasant experience, particularly for the elderly and those wearing sarees.
We reached the West Bengal Tourism Centre, Dalhousie – Tourism Centre, 3/2 B.B.D. Bag (East) Kolkata – by 8am. People were already waiting there from at least 7am. On presenting our reservation slips, we were assigned our seats on the bus that was to take us to Sonakhali where we’d board the ship – MV Chitrarekha. In all, there were three AC buses to ferry the tourists. We started off by ~8:45am and reached Sonakhali by 11:45am. On the bus, we were served with water-bottles and breakfast pack.
Pictured above is one of the buses. As we alighted the bus, we engaged a three-wheeled cycle (seen above) to carry our luggage from the bus-stop to the location of the ship – about a kilometer or so away. I think they charged us ~Rs.20 for this service.
By about 12:30pm, the ship MV Chitrarekha arrived and we were ferried onto it via their another motorboat. This ship itself looked alright from a distance. The upper (topmost) deck was for observation and dining. It also houses the steering control. The ship looked clean otherwise except for the toilets that were really cramped and some even had missing toilet seats! Luckily the flush worked fine on all of them.
No sooner did we all get on-board, we were welcomed with hot tea! And soon lunch was served. Everything’s common for the vegetarians and the non-veggies except for one dish in every meal. While the vegetarians might have a palak-paneer or dum-aloo, the non-vegies would have some fish or mutton curry. It was amused to see grown adults fighting over size of the fish served or the amount of gravy in their mutton-scoop!
The first stop was Dobanki Camp. We were ferried from the main vessel to the camp and back on the motorboat attached to the mother-ship. The views were all amazing. The night halt was on board the MV Chitrarekha. We were served both our evening high-tea and the dinner. All the meals were fairly decent. Of course, it’s a far deviation from the home-cooked or any plush-restaurant products, but the food wasn’t bad. The on-board staff were very friendly too.
Over the next two two days we had magnificent views of the sunrise and sunset across varying foregrounds at the Sundarbans. It is something to be really experienced. No photos or videos can do justice to it. Other watch towers that we stopped by included the Jhingakhali Beat, Burirdabri Beat, Sajnekhali, and Sudhanyakhali.
The Sundarbans itself derive their name, apparently, from Sundari – a variety of magrove tree that dominates the Sundarbans landscape.
What follows is a pictorial view of some of the elements at Sundarbans –