My First Sundarban tour and Tiger siting

Sundarban, a well-known den of the Royal bengal tigers is also the house of the spotted deers, crocodiles and plenty of colorful birds - A heaven for frame catchers and green beauty for nature lovers. Going for a weekend tour to world's most dense and large mangrove forest could be a life time memory. Having a total size of 10000km, North and South 24 paraganas of west bengal state is sharing 4260km with Bangladesh who maintains 6017km of this delta. As of Nov 2020, there is 96 Big cats in Indian side and 116 on Bangladesh side. 96 in 4260km could be a challenge to the luck but my luck won on that day, when I visited first time in Sundarban. Well, I'm coming on to this later.

Imagine, the only sound is here the six-cylinder boat sound and birds chanting. The mangrove land will be just 10ft far from your boat's deck which is the territory of most furious and  undisputed king of wildlife and it will be a matter of time if they attack your boat,.Crocodiles will be lying on the coast to have their sun-bath. Deers will not gonna care you in their play time. Birds will force you to remove your sun glasses with their vibrant colors and musical voices - yes, it is the tiger safari of Sundarban which has also 102 villages in its hug.

Thick mangrove forest and its shoulder down tree shadows make this place a luxury home for thousands of divergent wild beauties.  It has its own suspense and thriller. Sindarban is formed by three rivers Ganga, Brahmaputra, Meghna. In my latest blog, I will be sharing my experience of my first weekend tour to Sundarban. I will be sharing my travel itenary, how we arranged everything, detailed cost and most importantly, what I saw being a travel and click lover.

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Weekend Trip to Sundarban

Sundarban has something to offer for everyone.A peaceful destination if you are tired of being jailed for Covid. It has started its normal tourism from Nov 1st,2020. Before I dive into my one of the best travel experience, Let's know Sundarban more in facts and stats.

Location: Southern part of West Bengal, India.

Best time to visit: You should plan between Nov 2nd week to Februrary 3rd week because you need the temperature to be cold enough to stand on the boat deck for hours under sun and same goes for animals to give you their glimpse in open lands. You can also visit around July-august, in rainy season to see particular flora and fauna, birds and lash green mountain forest - a treat to your tired eyes but see the weather forecast as tropical storms often disturbs this area. A one-week prior booking will be enough.

Best partner to visit with: Try with friends and families, mostly in a group of 5-6 to save cost. Not a honeymoon destination, you will not have that much privacy on boats. But, couples can enjoy the silence of the night on boat's upper deck looking at the sky with full of blinking stars and moon with its diamond reflection on water.

Best travel communication: Just stay a night on boat. There is plenty of different types of boat from luxury to moderate. You can choose according to your need. Luxury boats, coats around 3500 per head a day which AC private rooms and normal boat charges usually 5600rs a day, accommodates apx 16 person including cook charge without food material. To save your pocket, it is best way to bring your own food material and appoint a cook.

Staying Options: As i recommended, stay nights in boats only, it usually has clear beds, one kitchen, one upper deck dining area, two washrooms but bathing could be a hard task on tiny washrooms. Remember, the launches will be anchored in the mid of the river surrounded by the forest, it is, itself a different experience. But, if you feel that your family needs the pure comfort of hotel, book your hotels in Pakhiraloy or Sajnekhali. But you are budget traveller, avoid them, they are too pricey.

Ideal duration of trip: one night and two days if you are a regular tourist, like I did, it was fast and happening, more than a day could be lengthy for you if you are not so much in love with nature and not passionate about filming or photography or you have time constraint. But, my heart fall in love with Sundarban and wanted to stay more time there. I visited plenty of national forests but never felt that attachment. Note, I like to click pictures, do filming and mad lover of nature but I underestimated this beauty by choosing a day tour. Photographers should stay 2 days (Due to covid, they are only providing 2 days permission, earlier it was 3 day) without any second thought. You will see mystery here every time , even on repeated places. I will share every details through my journey details below - patience will be appreciated. 

Cost of taking Sundarban: Count 4000-5000 rs for two day tour per head, again, it depends how luxury you want to choose for a day and your purpose.

Best Gifts to take way: Honey, you will have plenty of honey shops in Pakhiralay island. Those honey are extracted from deep forest. A kg of honey will cost you around 500 rs and 250kg as 125rs with free cute goody bags. Other gifts shops are also available for regular staffs.

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Why you should choose Sundarban?

A perfect weekend plan, from Saturday morning to Sunday Night so, you don't have to waste leave from work. Children can enjoy the animals, elders can enjoy the silent beauty of the nature. Sundarban is not about only Royal Bengal Tiger, It's a gamble -You may get a chance to watch them in a single go, or you may not see them in 10 visits also. If you are coming to a forest area, expect less, just love the forest and Sundarban is adorable enough to love.

How I planned and started my journey

I will step down two days tour in points so that you can choose the useful one for you.

Day -1

1. Reaching Sonakhali

2. Boarding Launch

3.Launch experience

4.Reaching Pakhiralay for Honey

5.Staying night under sky and in mid of river

Reaching Sonakhali:

I went with my 12 more friends. We booked a traveller from Science City to Sonakhali with rent of 7000rs for two days. It took apx 3 hours to reach at Sonakhali where our launch was waiting for us. The road was overall good but you may feel bit tired as you are not habituated with 3 hour long journey usually. We have seen 2-3 more launches there. Basically, people go through Gadhkhali where you will get more launches but we choosed Sonakhali because it was less congested ghat. We took vegetables.meats with us for two days, so we transferred our whole food arrangement from Traveller to launch,local people will do that for you in exchange of small amount. For people who love to chill with hard drinks, it is advisable to carry own brands from their own place and you can hire ices from ghat to keep your drinks cold. Make sure you inform the same to the launch owner while booking so that they can arrange accordingly. 

Boarding launch:

It was going to be my first experience to stay at a launch in night. I was bit sceptical about the beds and wash rooms of the launch but when I entered at the lower deck of the launch, there was one clean bathroom with adequate water supply, clean beds were attached with 3 persons on each bed, in total 7. I kept the bag on a corner side bed and went at the upper deck. Even in November first week, there was cool fresh breeze. The dining table was on the upper deck. Our launch started its journey towards the territory of the black and yellow. It will be small villages on the sides at the beginning, do not be upset, it will take atleast 2-3 hours to see the real forest.