The pristine mangrove swamps lying at the southern fringe of West Bengal, a state of eastern India, embedded with 102 islands amidst the emerald estuarine waters of the tributaries of the Bhagirathi and the Bay of Bengal is known as the Sunderbans, the kingdom of the famous Royal Bengal Tigers. It is the largest deltaic region in the world which is changing constantly in a series of stages.

Sunderban, the largest deltaic mangrove forest in the world, consists of 10,200 sq km area, spreaded over India (4263 sq km of Reserve forest) and Bangladesh (5937 sq km of Reserve forest).

Sunderbans region includes :
4263 Sq. Km. of Reserve Forest
(inclusive of 1678 Sq. Km. of South 24 Parganas Reserve Forest & 2585 Sq. Km. of Sunderban Tiger Reserve.)

Sunderban Tiger Reserve [STR] was constituted by Govt. of India under “Project Tiger” scheme , in 1973 . It covering an area of 2585 square kilometers, of which 1330 sq km is the core zone and 1255 sq km is the buffer zone.

Considering the importance of Sundarban's Bio-geographic Region, the National Park Area of the Sundarban Tiger Reserve have been included in the list of World Natural Heritage Sites in 1985 .

The Govt. of India declared the Sunderbans region including the protected area of Sunderban Tiger Reserve as BIOSPHERE RESERVE in 1989 . And it received the recognition of UNESCO, under its Man & Biosphere (MAB ) Programme, in Nov. 2001 .

Sunderban Reserve Forest has been nominated for recognition as a Ramsar Site (A Wetland of International Importance)

The Indian Sunderban is known as Hoogly-Matla estuary (Hooghly is the Lower part of River Ganges). Besides these two main rivers, there are innumerable big & small rivers which are criss-crossing The Sunderbans namely Bidya, Saptamukhani, Raimangal, Muriganga, Thakuran, Gomor etc.

Sunderban is the product of tidal estuary. Here, in the hundreds of creeks & channels the sea water gets diluted with the inflow of fresh water from the rivers, thereby causing tidal fluctuations everyday.

a narrow creeck at low tide

Sometimes the river swell & again it's subsides. There are two tides & two ebbs everyday.

The Sunderban delta has the distinction of encompassing the world's largest Mangrove Forest belt. A total of 84 species of flora have been recognised in the mangrove forest of Indian Sunderbans of which 34 are true mangroves.

Hental Bush - An Ideal place for a tiger

Mangroves are trees of various species of several families which can survive, grow and propagate in sea water or swampy brackish water and alluvial soil in tidal zone.

Flowers of Sundaree Tree

The mouth of the tidal creeks an drivers, where salt and fresh water is mixed in ideal proportion, show the greatest concentration of mangroves in Sunderbans.

The adaptive features of mangroves have excited every naturalist. The mangroves have the ability to maintain a suitable water balance inspite of salinity of waters. Some even excretes salts from its leaves.

Since the aerations of the clayey soil is very poor, some trees have evolved pneumatophores or breathing roots whose tips protrude from the mud upwards like spikes to ensure sufficient oxygen supply.

The stilt roots of Rhizophora (Garjan) are modifed in a manner so that it can stand firmly in the mud and withstand the cyclonic weather & soil erosion.

The mangroves have immense expertisation in colonizing newly created mudbanks. The future roots of the plants extent upto 30 cm. before it gets detached from the parent plants. Eventually it falls it is carried away by the water and strikes roots elsewhere. This is known as 'Viviparous Germination'.

The mangrove swamp provides an ambience of food and shelter to a wide range of both land & water organisms.

Monkeys, deers take fruits & leaves as food.

Uca - The fiddler crab


The fiddler crab with its waving claw


Mudskipper - A fish But prefers to avoid water


Curlew - a winter migratory


Large egret

Mudflats at low tide becomes a huge feasting ground for crabs, shore birds etc.

Goliath Heron

Birds of various species nest on the canopy.

Lesser Adjutant Stork

Over 200 species of birds are seen in Sunderban.

Collerd kingfisher


Black Capped kingfisher

Eight species of kingfishers are here.

Osprey - winter migratory


Tailor Bird - comonly seen in the villages


Black headed Gull - Come in hundreds in winter months.

 

The spectacular adaptability of tigers, deers, & even monkeys, who have turned out to be agile swimmers in the riverine basin of Sunderban, is amazing!

The estuarine crocodile of Sunderban are of huge size.

Specially in winter months one can easily observe a crocodile basking on the mudflats even upto 22 fts. in length.

From November to March the Olive Ridley Turtles arrive the sandy beaches of the southern most islands of Sunderban for nesting & laying eggs.

Behaviour-wise Sunderban-tigers differ from the tigers of other Indian forests. Daily tides and ebbs have made the topography of Sunderbans hostile. During high tides, a large portion of Sunderbans gets submerged and during ebbs a thick alluvium is left behind. Thus it makes the terrain slushy.

It becomes very difficult for tigers to hunt. So sometimes tigers of Sunderbans have to depend on fishes and crabs also. The other characteristic of the tigers of Sunderbans is that due to estuarine condition, they drink saline water.

Tigers of Sunderban are not habitual man eaters. All cases of man eating take place when a man enters into a tiger territory. For the hostile terrain of Sunderban it is easier to catch a man than deer, wild boar or monkey. Since last 25 years there are many cases where the tiger has strayed into a village but only one case when a girl was killed by it.

To fight and overcome the natural hazards the people are very dependent on the strength of religious beliefs and supernatural powers. Hindus and Muslims worship the same gods irrespective of their religious beliefs .The cult of worshipping trees, snakes, tigers and other animals proves their antiquity and pre- Aryan cultural trait .The overall Goddess of the forest is 'BONOBIBI' who is worshipped in almost every village. The other major god & goddess of Sunderban are ‘Dakshin Rai', Manasa, Olabibi, Manik Pir, Gazi Saheb and Sa Janguli etc.

Nearly 95% of the population primarily depends on monocropping agriculture, which is mostly rainfed.

During agricultural lean season, people resort to timbering, fishing in deep sea and rivers and collection of prawn seeds, even risking their lives from man-eating tigers and crocodiles.

During April / May, some people also enter the Reserved Forests with permits, for collection of honey which is entirely purchased back by Forest Deptartment.

This tiger land is criss-crossed by a network of streams & creeks which creates a serene scenic beauty. Thus it attracts foreign & Indian tourists, whose number are remarkably increasing every year.

Deul Bharani, Bonbibi Bharani & Chora gazikhali are the beautiful creeks, which should be visited by a tourist.

View from sudhanyakhali watch tower

There are several watch towers for viewing wild animals by the tourists namely Sajnekhali, Sudhanyakhali, Netidhopani, Dobanki, Burirdabri & Bonie. Sudhanyakhali watch tower is best for tiger sighting.