Sundarban Mini-trip

[Rishi]

I'm now done with the editing/sorting & is good to go.

Also, this was my second trip to the Sundarban area in 2017. Previous one was in February (not the Tiger Reserve) but as i had joined Wildfact for only 2-3 weeks back then, i didn't make a post on it. I'll write one here after this is done.
This is not going to be just about the travel & safari, but i intend to share Sundarban as an experience... so bear with me.

Day 1: 24/12/2017 
As my parents felt that i needed a break from my Indian Forest Service exam preps, they'd arranged this through a local tour-operator. Turns out, it was a huge party of 40. Mostly families looking to have a good time with sighting at the bottom of their priority list. Needless to say, i wasn't very stoked about it.

The whole group left by bus at about 8:00am. After leaving the city we headed southeast towards the small town of Basanti where you have to switch ride to a launch to continue towards the mangrove by water.

*This image is copyright of its original author

But after crossing the Matla river at the town of Canning one is officially inside the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve, and around you the scenery starts to change drastically. Because these regions are human habitations there are earthen embankments all along the rivers & creeks so that the water doesn't flood into the settlements at high tides. Thus monsoon rainwater can't escape either.

So there are no cropfields near the rivers, but massive waterbodies sprawling to the horizons are formed & the locals farm fish in those, thus reducing the pressure of the riverine ecosystem. This photo was taken at 10:00am, but the winter fog was still strong.

*This image is copyright of its original author

On reaching the jetty i saw this monstrosity approaching us, that was to ferry us to the forest & for safari next day. The first thing that came to my mind was "These things shouldn't be allowed inside the forest". 
But apparently if it passes a decibel-test, it is deemed silent enough for entering the forest, size doesn't matter.

*This image is copyright of its original author

As you move southwards towards the sea, the change of level of infrastructure from modern to conventional is noticeable, as the tides grow stronger, soil softer & rivers moodier.

Up this north, the rivers are still fast enough with strong currents to carry most of the silt. So, there are concrete covered embankments (reinforcing upgradation still underway) besides the rivers over which a thin road runs and all houses & power lines sit on the safety of their height.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

More to the south as the flow of the water simmers down, this method doesn't work. The rivers start shedding their debris inside the water and with time the whole river bed rises higher, until one fine day it would overflow/collapse the obstacles during the tides & gushing water would flood in to wash away everything in its path.

So here you have to use bare mud-banks like the old days, upto 10 metres wide that leave some room for washing away & deposition.

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Farther south even that is inadequate, as cyclones hit harder and tides call the shots. The narrower creeks aren't that much of a problem but the bigger river can gain 50% of their width at high-tides.

Owing to the availability of space to on the riversides, there are strips of mangroves to act as buffers against the destructive force of the rivers & check soil erosion of the banks.
These vary in width, origin & species, some being 5 metres wide...

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..to some reaching upto 500 metres.

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Some are remnants of the prehistoric forests... 

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..while some are new artificial plantations.

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By afternoon, we had the peoples' villages on left side and the Tiger Reserve to the right, with the outer borders of it draped with bright yellow nylon nets even at the mouth of the creeks, to discourage tigers from exploring the villages (yes, they work #118).

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By evening we reached Pakhirala, the place that acts as entry point to the Sundarbans at Sajnekhali Wildlife Sanctuary. This is where you stay, with the Tiger Reserve on the other side of the river.
I took this photo standing on the embankment with sun setting above the mangroves shrouded in mist.

*This image is copyright of its original author

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