Sundarban Mini-trip

[Rishi]

Thanks everybody for the response. I'm trying to keep things as short & compact possible...

Day 3: 26/12/2017

This was our last day. We checked-out of our residences & headed out for the only place scheduled for visit that day, Jharkhali.

This is where the (somewhat) famous Tiger Rescue Centre is located

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This area, as you can see in the above image, is west of the TR and the villages are interspersed with mangrove patches on river banks & islands.

Just opposite of Jharkhali, on the other side of the river is the island of Ajmalmari. This is a seperate forest division & designated a Reserve Forest. Although the numbers have fallen by 90% today, but this area is still visited by people to harvest forest produce like honey & beewax.

Also rescued tigers that are treated fit to go back to the wild are often released here because of the lower tiger density here.

On the way to Jharkhali you cruise along the Tiger Reserve before crossing the mighty 3-kms-wide Bidyadhari river.
Then, just as we left the main river & entered the creek to Jharkhali, i was trying to find another Black Capped Kingfisher a bit closer & i see this...

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Can you believe it? 

We'd scoured the prime wilderness the day before & nothing comes within a hundred metres of us... Today, on our way out of the mangroves i see this 10-12 footer lazing on the mud, less than 25 metres from our boat & paying absolutely no attention to our presence.

I wasn't even looking for anything! Why would i? (Oh yes, it was on the habitated side of the creek. The mangrove strip was wider here but the embankment was visible 5 less than minutes ago & i think i saw children on it.)
Most likely the forests & villages protruding into each other, along with wide rivers on both sides make containment of the crocodiles difficult.

He then quite unwillingly moved away into a small crack in the mud forming a pool...

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..& we moved onwards to Jharkhali TRC.

This is the place where the injured, stranded, old, crippled & last but not the least man-eaters are brought for treatment. Some later gets clearance for release, while some don't & are packed off to another far-away facility in North Bengal to live out their days in captivity.

I was pretty impressed with the layout's strict adherence to guidelines.
There was a path outside. Beyond the fence was a 10m moat, beyond which was the tiger's 1hectare enclosure, clean & with a staircase to replicate the undulated land of Sundarban.

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The moat is used for crocodile breeding.

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Currently there's only one tiger there. A 11-year-old male, who other than being a man-eater had eye injury than turned it blind & wasn't released.

As i walked to the other side, that's when i saw him... He. Was. HUGE.
(I apologise on behalf of my camera.)

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Head, neak, shoulder, arms, chest-girth.. he had it all.

Here's a better shot of him beside the concrete base.

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Here's me beside the outer one... I'm 5'8".

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I guess whatever weight difference Sundarban tigers have with their mainland cousins is probably due to them being skinny, because the dimensions didn't look that different.

The prey base is very likely inadequate from what i felt. It's definitely a tough life there that the rhinos & water buffalos weren't tough enough for.
Maybe that's the reason they aren't picky about what they eat.. monkeys, young crocs, crabs, tortoise & even fish that get trapped on mudflats as the tides recede.

There was a info placard by the FD beside the enclosures. Normally I would have ignored it but this one had its size/weight data patched up & edited. Probably it originally showed a off-the-internet value of 250kg etc. but they corrected it.
So, i took a photo...

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So, that's the end of my journey folks. 
From there we returned to Basanti jetty & back to Kolkata by night. Reply