There is a world somewhere between reality and fiction. Although ignored by many, it is very real and so are those living in it. This forum is about the natural world. Here, wild animals will be heard and respected. The forum offers a glimpse into an unknown world as well as a room with a view on the present and the future. Anyone able to speak on behalf of those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea is invited to join.
Historically known as a "Jungle of the man-eaters" make Sundarbans somehow even more attractive for Western tourists seaking danger...
"The Ganges, the great river sacred to Hindus, rises among the snowy
mountains of the Himalayas and flows through the rich provinces of
Kashmir, Delhi, Agra, Benares, Patna and Bengal, giving life to some of
the most populous cities in India. Three hundred miles from the sea, it
divides in two, forming within its branches a vast delta unique to the
world.
A multitude of streams emanate fromthose imposing arms; large and
small canals crisscross that immense tract of land bounded by the Bay of
Bengal, creating an infinite number of islands, islets and sandbanks,
known to the world as the Sundarbans.
No sight is stranger, more desolate or more frightening than the
Sundarbans. No cities, no villages, no huts or hovels; endless forests of
thorny bamboo stretch from north to south, east to west, the tops of
their tall stems swaying in the wind among the deadly miasma rising
from the rotting foliage and human corpses set adrift in the Ganges.
By day, a dismal silence reigns supreme, instilling terror in even the
bravest of souls, but once darkness descends, the air fills with a frightening
cacophony of howls, roars, and hisses that make the blood run cold.
Ask a Bengali to set foot in the Sundarbans and he will refuse; an offer
of a hundred, two hundred, five hundred rupees, will not sway him.
Ask a Molango1and he will refuse just as adamantly, to set foot in those
jungles is to ask for death.
A thousand dangers lurk beneath those forests among the mire and
sallow waters. Giant crocodiles swim in search of prey; tigers lay in wait
for passing boats, ready to pounce upon the first sailor that dares get
close to shore. Rhinoceroses roam the land, ready to attack at the slightest
provocation; snakes abound in infinite varieties, from tiny poisonous
serpents to enormous pythons large enough to grind an ox within their
coils. But perhaps the most deadly of all are the Indian Thugs, dreaded
stranglers that skulk in the shadows, searching for victims to sacrifice to
their bloodthirsty goddess."