Sundarban: Nature's Calling......

Sundarban, declared as one of the world heritage site by UNESCO in the year of 1987, is one of the world's largest mangrove forests. Sundarban was also declared as "Biosphere Reserve" in the year of 1989. The forests is spread over the two countries viz. India & Bangladesh, where around 35% to 40% belongs to West Bengal, India. The Sundarban is a vast area of around 4264 sq. km in West Bengal, India, though some part of the forest got damaged in the cyclone, named AILA, which hit the Sundarban & the coastal area of the "Bay Of Bengal" in 25.5.2009 . It's the largest delta in India (one of the largest delta in the world as well) formed by the three rivers of Ganges, Brahmaputra & Meghna, and the meeting place of the salty sea-water & sweet river-water. The mangrove forest had got its name from the 'Sundari"(Heritiera Minor) trees.

We planned to visit the forest in the spring of March, during the "Holi" season, and we contacted "West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation Limited (WBTDC)" to avail one of their tour packages which might fit into our time. According to the schedule, the bus ( an A.C. Volvo service) took us, along with other tourists, from B.B.D. Bag bus terminus and drove to "Sonakhali" from where we had to take a motor boat, arranged by the WBTDC, to get into the steamer "M. V. Chitrarekha" which would take us to cruise trip through Sundarban.The vessel started from "Sonakhali" and cruised through the spider-nets of canals & rivers in that region to reach "Sajnekhali" watch tower. It was one of the well known watch tower in the forest. There was a tourist's lodge, run by West Bengal Tourism Dept., where one could stay & enjoy the beauty of the mother nature. Sajnekhali was also famous for its bird sanctuary.

Our next stop was "Sudhanyakhali" watch tower. The jungle was not so deep here, and, it was the mid-day with the sun was over our head, so we couldn't see a single wildlife there. We took our lunch on-board & decided to call it a day.

Next day early in the morning, our vessel cruised through the canals in the forest of Sundarban to reach the watch tower in "Jhingakhali". The water was turbulent there as it was the full moon day, and the small motor boat used to carry the tourists ashore jerked & bounced several times in the rough water. Jhingakhali watch tower was the place we hoped to see the glimpse of the Royal Bengal Tiger, but in vain.
Near Jhingakhali watch tower, there was a temple dedicated to "Bon-Bibi(the Goddess of the Forest) After returning from Jhingakhali watch tower, we headed toward "Burirdabri" watch tower.

There was a temple dedicated to "Bonbibi" (Goddess of the Jungle), where the "honey-collectors" & fishermen used to offer prayer to the Goddess to save them from the wrath of the king of jungle "Royal Bengal Tiger". After returning from Burirdabri our vessel anchored near Sajnekhali, thus the trip for the 2nd day came to an end.

The next day our motor vessel cruised toward "Netidhopani" watch tower, which had its own mystic beauty of the forests. There were a 400yrs old ruins that added mystery to the surrounding. Since Dobaki, famous for its deer project, was out of our travel path, we had to move toward Netidhopani. We were lucky to see a pair of "Brahminy Kite" & "Bald-Headed Stork" It was great to have such an experience seeing the Stork flying before us & heading toward deep of the forest.

Best Time to visit:: Best time to visit is between mid November and end February, although the National Park remains open from September to March, as the possiblity of watching the Royal Bengal Tiger sun-bathing in the river banks remains high in the winter. This is also the best time to watch different kinds of migratory birds.

How to reach:: by air: Dum Dum Airport-Kolkata is the nearest airport, situated at a distance of 112 kms from Sundarban National Park.

by rail: The nearest rail station is Canning, 48 kms away from Sundarban National Park. From Sealdah station (South Section) suburban trains are available to Canning, from there one can reach Sajnekhali Tourist Lodge. From Canning road transport to Namkhana, Raidighi, Sonakhali, Najat from where motor launch services are available for Sundarban.

by road: Excellent road network connects Kolkata to Namkhana, Sonakhali, Raidighi, Canning, Najat all lying nearby Sundarban National Park.

Cruises:: Cruise service is conducted by "WBTDC" which starts from Sonakhali with different packages (1N/2D or 2N/3D or 3N/4D). Tourists can avail these services suitable to their tour plan. There are lots of private run cruise services available in the region, one can choose between those. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner will be served in the moving vessel which are of very good quality. The cost of the private cruise arrangement may vary with time, so it is suggested to check before the commencement of the tour.

West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation Limited (WBTDC):: Contacted tours are arranged by WBTDC with flexible tour packages. Contact address:: TOURISM CENTRE, 3/2 B. B. D. BAG(EAST), KOLKATA-700001. Or log on to: http://www.westbengaltourism.gov.in/

WHERE EAGLES DARE: A Trip to Nathula-Tsomgo-Babamandir

Nathula-Tsomgo-Baba Mandir is a much sought after tourists' destination in east Sikkim,India. We decided to travel that part of the country in the early of January, when the place usually remained covered with ice, due to light to heavy snowfall. We took the challenge as an adventure against others' suggestions. We thought we were well prepared to beat the cold out there. We arranged our required permits through an authorized travel agent in Gangtok, capitol of Sikkim. They helped us a lot, indeed.
As per our tour plan, we reached Gangtok directly from Calcutta on 8th January, 2011. On 9th January, early in the morning, we drove towards Nathula, as it would take around 3&1/2 hrs. to reach the spot. After driving for about 40minutes we saw the Burtuk waterfalls, completely frozen. We took a few good shots there.

Later we kept driving toward Nathula. Our driver, who also acted as a guide there, was a local Bhutanese with fluency in both Hindi & English. He made it sure that the journey would never become boring, although, I must say the beauty of the surrounding nature was more than enough to entertain & excite us.
After driving for more than 2hrs. we stopped at a cafeteria just before entering the Nathula pass for a cup of coffee. The cafeteria was a perfect place where one could have anything from "ant to elephant".

Though we didn't expect a cafeteria at such a high altitude (around 12000ft from sea-level), but hey!! it was more than just a warm welcome to us.

Later on we kept on driving towards Nathula.

Nathula was one of the most important trade route between India & Chinese occupied Tibet. Being situated at the "Silk Route 2" (the Silk Route 1 being the one that runs from middle east to the planes of northern India through Ladakh & Rohtang-La), the pass (in Tibetan language "La" means pass) connects Tibetan planes to the planes of Bengal.

At an altitude of 14500ft from sea-level, Nathula is one of the highest metalled motorable road on earth. Being closed for several decades, it was opened to the tourists & common people in the year of 2006. Till then, it remained as one of the important international trade routes.

It was at a temperature below the freezing point as we reached Nathula, the wind coming from the Chinese territory was almost blowing us away & we were trembling to our bones. But hats off to the Indian Army!! the way they keep on guarding the border was remarkable.

We saw that loads of tourists who were there on the top of Nathula peak were suffering from nausea due to acute lack of oxygen (the level drops down to 20% of that at sea-level). We must consider ourselves lucky as we didn't suffer anything like that, though the cold chilly northern wind were taking a toll over us & we decided to take a shelter in a cafeteria there, named as 14K Cafeteria (after the height of the place from sea-level).

From the Nathula peak one could see a part of the "Great Wall of China". The snow-capped peaks of the Himalayan range in the Chinese territory was the "ice on the cake"

One could have a clearer view of the local village surrounding the Nathula pass, as well as the frozen Twins lake near the Nathula pass.

After spending about half an hour on the Nathula top, we descended down towards Tsomgo lake. On the way stopped for a while at Twins lake to have some close good shots

It was another half an hour drive down the hill & scaling the slope to reach the famous Tsomgo lake. In Bhutia language, the meaning of the name of the lake was "Source of the Lake". There were not many tourists around the lake & we had a free access all aroundthe lake. Most of the common tourists would prefer to avoid this time of the year to go to such places, otherwise the surounding of the lake remained over crowded during most of the part of the year.

One of the main tourists' attractions around the Tsomgo lake was the "Yak riding"

The local youth from the nearby villages brought those yaks, which were basically mountain cows larger in size than those we could see in planes, to entertain the tourists from all over the world. One could even pose for a photoshoot riding on the back of a yak (though you have to cough some bucks to the owner of the yaks for the photoshoot!!). The lake was frozen almost completely, just a part of the surface showed some stretches of water during that received some heat in the mid of the day. I took out my Nikon DSLR to take some good clear shots.

We had our lunch, on noodles & steaks, in anearby food shop & drove towards Babamandir, the temple named after Captain Harbhajan Sing of Indian Army. There was a story circulated inthe area about the Capt. & his outstanding courage & bravery. In those days in 1962-64, during the India-China war along the Himalayan belt, he was appointed to patrol the border between India & Chinese occupied Tibet near that place. Unfortunately, he died in the gun-battle during the war, though till the last moments of his life he was fighting hard. As it was told, he was the last man standing. But even after his death, people of the village could hear the sound of the gun fire, and the Chinese Army didn't perhaps realized that the border remained unmanned althrough the night. The very next morning the replacement troup was despatched, thus the border was saved. But people of the surrounding Village as well as the Indian Army perssonel do believe that it was the the spirit of the capt. who protected the border from infiltration & they later built a temple to pay their respect & homage to this brave soldier. We were completely moved over hearing the story & payed our homage to this brave man.

Cpt. Harbhajan Sing.

It was half past 2, when we decided to drive back to Gangtok. On the way we stopped at Tashi View point, have one clear look at Mt.Kanchenjungha. Although our tour ended there for the day but we would keep the memory alive within us for the rest of the lives.

For the official records, the best time to visit the place is mid March to June & October to mid December, though one can even select the prime winter season to get a completely different taste of the place, but one needs to be well prepared to beat the chilling cold out there, during the prime winter season.

For further detail, one can contact the authorized local tour operators or mail me in these email id's..... mitra.arindam73@yahoo.in & mitra.arindam73@gmail.com .