Sundarbans, literally meaning the ‘beautiful forests’, lives up to its name and reputation by all means. Mangroves are arguably among the most beautiful forests with typical salt-water resistant trees growing inside water making for quite a fascinating sight. Visiting Sundarbans in January 2023 was a wonderful experience, but it was not that easy to plan. Though it’s not really difficult to visit, I found not much information on how to plan for the best experience. So, I decided to help fellow travellers by writing this piece on Sundarbans National Park : How to plan your trip.
{Check out similar tips on more such popular national parks here:
“A guide to the Great Himalayan National Park” | “Why Kaziranga and Rhinos are so important“}
Why Sundarbans National Park is so important?
Sundarbans derives its name from its dominant plant- Sundari (in local Bengali language), a mangrove species- Heritiera fomes. Sundarbans National Park is world’s largest estuarine mangrove eco-system, and also the largest delta formed by three rivers- the Ganges and Brahmaputra (both flow through India and Bangladesh), and Meghna (Bangladesh). The rivers divide into hundreds of streams and crisscross each other to form hundreds of islands before meeting the Bay of Bengal.
Sundarbans: some facts
Of the total area of 10,000 sq. kms of Sundarbans National Park, roughly 35% is in India, and 65% is in Bangladesh. There are 102 islands on Indian side of which 54 are inhabited (more than 5 million people residing) and 48 are reserved only for wildlife.
Apart from providing livelihoods to millions of people, the Sundarbans also protects them from severe cyclonic storms that origin in the Bay of Bengal every year. The importance of Sundarbans National Park can be gauged from the various statuses it has received over the years:
- Sundarbans Tiger Reserve: 1973
- Sundarbans Wildlife Sanctuary: 1977
- Sundarbans National Park: 1984
- Sundarbans UNESCO World Heritage Site:1987
- World Network of Biosphere Reserve: 1989
- Ramsar Site: 2019
Flora and Fauna of Sundarbans National Park
Apart from the dominant Heritiera species of mangroves there are a few others like Avicennia and Xylocarpus, etc. They form the mangrove forests that the Royal Bengal Tigers call home, and live in harmony with the large fearful salt-water crocodiles as neighbors. Apart from these two, other endangered species include the Olive Ridley turtles, Hawksbill turtles and Ganges river dolphins. Other important fauna species include spotted deer, monkeys, wild boars, snakes, lizards, and scores of bird species.
Man eaters of Sundarbans:
There are less than 500 Royal Bengal Tigers in their flame like skin coat still roaming the forests of Sundarbans of which Indian side has around 100. Unlike anywhere else, these majestic animals seek out human beings for food! Strange that it sounds, it’s actually true (watch an interesting video). For centuries, people living in the Sundarbans National Park area fall prey to the second largest tiger species (after Siberian tigers) in the world. No other animal attacks human beings for food. Tigers elsewhere don’t attack humans either; they are quite shy of, and even scared of humans. But not the ones in Sundarbans!
Why? There are a number of theories on this. Here is an article I found interesting: “10 Reasons Why Most Sundarbans Tigers Are Man-eaters“.
Sundarbans National Park : Beyond the tigers
While meandering around in the Sundarbans National Park, I got a call from my mom. She asked me- “why are you visiting Sundarbans”? I told her nonchalantly that we were looking for the tigers! She couldn’t really understand why we would take all the pains to visit Sundarbans to see a tiger! We could easily do that in a zoo, she retorted. It got me thinking none-the-less.
Were we really there to see a tiger? Not really. Tiger was the last thing on my mind when I first thought of visiting Sundarbans. All I was thinking of was the fascinating mangrove forests. In any case, the chance of sighting a tiger is negligible (as in case of any other tiger forest). Tiger or no-tiger, Sundarbans is a charming place to explore and experience with love.
People and culture of the Sundarbans:
Close to the date of travel, I thought of experiencing the local culture, or at least, the local life. But I didn’t know how. All the vlogs on YouTube show that the tour agencies arrange for some cultural programs in the resorts. But somehow none of the visuals of those shows impressed me much. So, instead of booking a guided tour package (by bus) from Kolkata, we preferred to directly reach Canning, the nearest railway station to the Sundarbans National Park, and explore ourselves.
Luckily, however, it just happened inadvertently that we got a chance of experiencing the local life. In the following paragraphs, I’ll tell you how, so that you can plan accordingly.
Sundarbans National Park is still unadulterated by the poisons of modern life. One can walk around pollution-free, peaceful sleepy villages, interact with its innocent humble people and observe their easy going lives. In itself this would be a surreal experience.
Our two-day trip to the Sundarbans
We had previous experience of visiting similar mangrove forests in Odisha – Bhitarkanika and Gahirmatha mangrove forests and sanctuaries. But Sundarbans is much larger and has global reputation. So, our excitement was understandable. After spending a day in the city of joy, we headed for the Sundarbans National Park.
Day-1: Canning- Gadkhali- Gosaba- Pakhiralay
Not an ideal beginning
We had thought of starting early in the morning from Kolkata. But Parina was not feeling well in the morning, so we started late- about 10.30 AM from Sealdah station. The local train took about 1.30 hours to reach Canning, the nearest station to Sundarbans National Park; so, it was 12 PM when we arrived there.
There are quite a few tour operators just outside the Canning station offering various types of packages starting from 2N/3D to 5N/6D itineraries. But we had only 1N/2D, of which we had already lost half a day! The bigger problem was that all the motor-boats that onboard the tourists from a nearby jetty- Sonakhali had left for the day!
After quite a lot of persuation, a helpful tour operator did set up our trip. He suggested dropping us at a resort in Pakhiralay directly by late afternoon. And we would join the rest of the tourists the next day for a boat-ride around the national park. It might seem like a lost day, but it was not.
Blessing in disguise:
They took us by an auto-rickshaw to the next nearby jetty at Gadkhali, some 30 kms away from Canning. At Gadkhali, we crossed the first river (Bidyadhari) on our way by a boat that the locals use for their regular commuting. On the other side of the river was Gosaba, a village with a market place. A boy from the tour operator met us at Gosaba jetty, and took us by a small taxi to Pakhiralay.
If we would have taken a boat-ride from Sonakhali to Pakhiralay on the first day, it would have been the same experience as of the second day that we were going to have. Instead, we reached Pakhiralay in the afternoon, and checked in at the allotted resort. Since we had a lot of time on our hands in the afternoon till evening, we decided to explore the local village by foot. It proved to be an amazing experience, a blessing in disguise.
If we knew that Hamilton bungalow is situated on the same island (Gosaba), we would have definitely visited, but somehow, it went amiss.
Our resort- Sanjog:
One cannot really call it a resort, but people call all the guesthouses and hotels in Sundarbans National Park area as resorts. This one we stayed in is a new property that has come up during the pandemic. It’s not luxurious, but definitely comfortable and spacious. There were two double beds in the room; most of the rooms in the resort are designed this way. Maybe the idea is to accommodate a family of 3-4 in one room. That’s not a bad idea!
A walk around Pakhiralay village:
Pakhiralay, a quaint village by the beautiful Datta river was the best thing that happened to us on this Sundarbans trip. With more than 900 families, and nearly 5000 population, it’s not really a small village, but a poor one. Majority of the households belong to the Schedule Castes. They live in very modest thatched houses. However, they definitely looked to be the happiest people- very content with their lives and resources.
I got a feeling of going back in time, like 20-30 years! Because of its remoteness and inaccessibility , the islands in the Sundarbans National Park remain long back in the past. One can imagine how life was everywhere else decades ago just by observing how people live here today. The raw charm of a village life is so close to my heart! None of them exists elsewhere now-a-days.
Life and livelihoods:
Our walk around the village gave a good insight into how the people lived there, and what their livelihoods are. Their predominant occupation is subsistence agriculture, and that too mainly paddy, a non-cash crop. Livestock like cows and hens are their insurance against a bad day. Most of them depend on the forests for honey and firewood. They also catch fish from the rivers and waterbodies around them for their daily requirement of protein. Besides, every household has a small pond in front of it where they get some fish for their meal, and water for domestic purposes.
However, drinking water is a major concern for people there because the ground water is saline (being close to the sea). Water water everywhere, but can’t drink a sip! In recent times, the government has provided some community tap water facilities for the villagers, but they are typically irregular. Moreover, they have to fetch water from these taps far from their houses manually over their shoulders/ heads.
Impact of tourism on life and environment in Sundarbans:
In recent times, increasing tourism has added another source of livelihoods for the locals. Scores of small resorts/ guesthouses have come up catering to the needs of tourists. However, these properties mostly belong to rich businessmen from Kolkata. Local people do get opportunities to work at these properties for meagre salaries though. Additionally, some people work with the tour operators in the motor-boats carrying the tourists.
On the flip side, hundreds of motor-boats wandering through the forests of Sundarbans National Park generate tons of carbon dioxide everyday! In the long run, they add up significantly. Presence of large number of tourists also means a threat to the natural fauna and flora of the region.
Though global warming has bigger macro level contributing factors, there is no doubt that increasing tourism in the forests also contributes to this concern.
It’s a typical developmental catch-22 situation. While on one hand tourism helps livelihoods of local poor households, on the other hand it contributes to the problem of global warming.
Impact of Global Warming and Climate Change:
We met an elderly man on our walk. He told us that he used to work as an agricultural labourer in a sugarcane field in Uttar Pradesh in his younger days. But now he works as a care-taker at a small resort on the bank of the river. He also shared with us, in his own way, his concerns about global warming and land inundation in Sundarbans National Park area. He showed us parts of the resort where he works which is now submerged in the river (see picture below). Every few years the river widens a bit more and consumes scores of houses. Quite scary for people living in the Sundarbans!
According to a study conducted by Jadavpur University, sea levels are increasing 3.14 mm every year. Two islands have submerged already, and another one is in imminent danger. Life and livelihoods of millions of people are at stake. Government needs to take action immediately, and on a massive scale.
Saraswati Puja in the village:
I knew beforehand that Saraswati Puja (worshipping of Goddess Saraswati) is an important festival in West Bengal; but didn’t know how much. It was a pleasant sight to see Saraswati pandals every here and there in the villages of Sundarbans National Park. Saraswati idols are kept for puja in these pandals for 3-4 days. The real surprise was to see how everyone in the village- from kids to elderlies get involved in a big way. They play games through the day together, and have a community feast in the evening.
In Pakhiralay, we saw groups of men and women playing interesting games in paddy fields. There was an an anchor commentating on the proceedings on mic. Middle aged women played a game where they filled up water bottles by running with palmful of water from a bucket kept 20 meters away. Elderly men played a game of passing on a cap to each other’s head like in the game of musical chairs. And children were enjoying watching their parents in action!
In Odisha (where I grew up), though Saraswati Puja is observed, it’s not this elaborate- mostly limited to schools and colleges.
Day-2: Sajnekhali- Dobanki- 'Five Rivers Meeting Point'
Second day of our trip began with a knock on the door early in the morning, actually too early for us, before sunrise. At the door was a boy selling fresh palm nectar. Parina was especially interested in tasting the sweet nectar extracted from the palm trees. We had one small glass each; it tasted like a sweet fruit juice only, and was refreshing. This nectar becomes alcoholic after sunrise, and is popular among locals as toddy or tady. We couldn’t sleep much afterwards. The morning tea arrived in a bit. And by 7 AM, we were ready for the day.
We followed other tourists, actually our boat-mates to the jetty. It was quite a scene at the jetty with 4-5 motor-boats onboarding tourists. We boarded our boat with much excitement for the day.
Sajnekhali wildlife sanctuary:
Our first stop was Sajnekhali wildlife sanctuary, less than 30 minutes away across the Datta river. The Forest Department has created a small watch tower and a mangrove interpretation center for tourists. The watch tower offers lovely view of the forests from the top. However, the interpretation center is not that great. One gets to spend about 20-30 minutes there, and then back to the boat.
Sudhanyakhali:
Once back in the boat, they served us breakfast: puri- chhole- gulab jamun, the most popular breakfast option in Bengal. Less than an hour’s boat-ride took us to our second destination- Sudhanyakhali forest camp. There is another small watch tower; but the main attraction is the variety of mangrove species on display with information. After spending another half an hour at the camp, we were back in the boat.
Dobanki camp:
From Sudhanyakhali to Dobanki forest camp, it was a long ride in the meandering rivers through the mangrove forests. Having lunch on the boat with views of the mangroves was a nice experience. After nearly 4 hours of boat ride, we reached the Dobanki forest camp. On the way, we sighted some spotted deer. Just before reaching there, we had our first major animal sighting- a crocodile sunbathing on the mudflats of the river.
They have created a long safe pathway (closed on both sides) for the tourists to walk across the camp. We could spot a few spotted deer while walking through the camp. That was it!
Five-rivers meeting point:
In less than an hour from Dobanki, we reached the Five-rivers meeting point (or, Panchmukhani in local language): three major rivers- Bidyadhari, Matla and Datta, and two minor rivers- Chadabida and Hedokhanga. Honestly, I’m not sure of the names though! Just a few miles away, the rivers meet with the Bay of Bengal. It’s a huge expanse of water. From the boat itself, one can’t really see the rivers meeting each other; can just imagine their paths from the horizon.
Watching the sunset beyond the five-rivers meeting point was perhaps the high point of the day. From there, it was a 2-hour boat ride back to Pakhiralay jetty.
Animal sighting:
Through the day, we could sight only one major animal- two crocodiles, and of course some minor animals- a few spotted deer, a monitor lizard, some monkeys, and that’s it! On the mudflats of the river, it was interesting to observe the mudskippers, a variety of amphibious fish that can remain over land, and walk over land for considerable period of time. They are the link piece in the evolutionary transition of animals from water to land.
However, as I said earlier, Sundarbans National Park (like any other forest) is not all about tigers, or wild animals. There are more to explore, and that’s what we did.
Making some new friends:
Like always, it was great to meet new people on the trip. When you spend long days and evenings together, you tend to know your travel mates to some extent, and build a bit of camaraderie. Some of them helped us with tips on exploring Kolkata in a better way on our way back. All of them in our boat were from West Bengal, though some of them live outside of Bengal. Very sweet people to know and exchange some life stories.
Back to Kolkata:
Once back at Pakhiralay, we collected our luggage from the resort quickly and rushed to the main market to catch a vehicle to Gosaba from where we would cross the river to Gadkhali. The same boy who dropped us at the resort the previous day was waiting for us, but there was no vehicle. We could only see the flat-seated motor-rickshaws. He told us that we have to take one of those to the jetty, some 10 kms away! It was a difficult ride for Parina because of her cervical issues, but she managed somehow.
When we reached Gosaba jetty, it was pitch black, but the boats were still operating. We took one to cross over to Gadkhali side where an auto-rickshaw was waiting for us. Another one hour, and we were at Canning again. Fortunately, one local train was about to start, and we boarded.
By the time we reached Kolkata at about 10 PM after the long hectic day, Parina was already unwell. She vomited on the road itself, and I followed suit late in the night. Parina remained unwell the next day, and took rest in the hotel room. But I felt well next morning, and explored Kolkata thoroughly.
How to plan your trip to Sundarbans National Park
About Sundarbans Tourist Area:
Sundarbans National Park is spread across a large area, though only about a fourth of that is open for tourists. The main tourist area starts from Canning. Most of the tourists start either at Sonakhali (18 kms from Canning) or at Gadkhali (30 kms from Canning). This depends on the plans and packages on offer from the tour operators. However, most of the tour operators have tie up with resorts in the islands of Gosaba, Bali and Satjelia. These islands are just on the fringe of the Sundarbans mangrove forests area.
Pakhiralay is one of the most important village in Gosaba island (block) that serves as a base location for venturing into the mangrove forests. It’s just across the Sajnekhali wildlife sanctuary.
Sundarbans Tiger Reserve is a subset of the larger Sundarbans National Park. The Tiger Reserve has three main zones: the buffer zone, the sanctuary zone and the core zone. Tourists can go only into the buffer zone. One doesn’t need to worry about these things because all the boat owners know about this, and know the routes.
How many days?
One can choose whatever number of days one wants or have on hand. The most popular plans are 2N/3D packages. But I think 1N/2D is a good enough plan. However, a lot of tour operators don’t offer 1N/2D plans for commercial reasons. A 2N/3D plans look like:
- Day-1: Sonakhali- Gosaba- Pakhiralay
- Day-2: Pakhiralay- Sajnekhali- Dobanki- Five Rivers Meeting Point- Pakhiralay
- Day-3: Pakhiralay- Jharkhali- Sonakhali/ Gadkhali
How to plan:
- Easy way is to choose a package of your choice from the tour operators in Kolkata or Canning, wherever you choose to start from. And join them as per plan.
- Best way is to plan yourself. Reach Gadkhali by taking a local train to Canning, and from there by auto-rickshaw. Cross over from Gadkhali to Gosaba by a local ferry. Spend the day exploring Gosaba island- Hamilton bungalow, Rabindranath bungalow and village life. Book a resort in Pakhiralay (10 kms from Gosaba) to stay the night. Book a day-trip boat-ride in the forests for the next day (or more). This way, you have one day to explore the rural life and culture on your own, and one full day to explore the forests.
- More than one day in the boat moving around the forests: I felt it is a bit too much. There is not much to see in the forest camps like Sajnekhali, Sudhanyakhali or Dabanki.
- If you are desirous of having the experience of spending a night on the boat in the river, you can choose such a package.
Other travel tips
Best time to visit:
- October to March are the best time, especially the winter months of December-January.
- Summer months of April to June are too hot and humid to enjoy
- Monsoon months bring heavy rains; so, it’s not safe to visit
Best time of the day for animal sighting:
The Forest department allow tourists from morning to evening; no one can stay back after the sunset. Animal sighting is better during low tide because the mudflats open up, and animals can be easily seen on the river banks. Typically, high tides happen in the night (due to moon) and continue till late in the morning. Then low tides continue till the evening. So, best times to see animals are late afternoon and early evening.
How to reach:
- Train: Canning is the nearest railway station to enter Sundarbans National Park. Local trains operate between Kolkata and Canning regularly through the day.
- Bus: Regular buses operate from Esplanade (Kolkata) to Canning and Sonakhali
- Car/ Taxi: Canning is about 65 kms and Sonakhali is around 80 kms from Kolkata; so, taking a taxi or driving your own car is not much of a difficulty
- If you have booked a package from a tour operator in Kolkata; you can just go to their pick-up point, and that’s it.
Where to stay:
- If you have chosen a tour package, you have no choice; they will offer you a resort in one of the nearest islands to enter the forests.
- Or, you may choose to spend the night on the boat itself; check out the packages on line
- If you are managing your trip yourself, you should book a resort in Gosaba island, most appropriately in Pakhiralay village.
Where to eat:
- Tour operators offer good food on-board and at the resorts
- If you are on your own, there are small restaurants/ hotels in Canning, Gadkhali and Gosaba offering local food. Not much option though.
How to move around:
- To move around the islands, one will find small auto-rickshaws, e-rickshaws, flat-seated motor-rickshaws
- For venturing into the mangrove forests, of course, boats are the only way. It’s cost effective to join the shared boats. However, if you want more freedom and explore smaller channels, it’s better to hire small boats; they will be a little costlier though.
Things to carry:
- It’s a good idea to carry some mosquito repellant, especially in spring-summer season (avoid monsoon in any case)
- Electricity supply can be erratic at times; so, a torch will be helpful
- Wear light sports shoes; cover your feet all the time since you may come across harmful insects and snakes while walking in the evening
- Keep your cap/hat and sunglasses all the time with you; the sun is too strong in the afternoon even in the winters
- Wear light cotton outfit, especially in the spring-summer season; humidity levels would be really high
- Keeping chocolates and light snacks is a good idea since there are not many good shops out there
- Carry some cash all the time; difficult to find ATMs there.
Concluding note
Sundarbans National Park is definitely among the top 5 National Parks in India, and one of my favorites. We didn’t expect, and didn’t sight a tiger, still we were happy. However, the local infrastructure and tour packages need a lot of improvement. The tour operators don’t provide good guides who can interact with the tourists. The local resort owners can make the experience far better by designing the resorts with local ethos. They should also offer rural/ cultural experiences to visitors as part of the packages.
Planning your own trip is the best thing to do
Till the time things improve, one can plan on their own, and have the best experience. Hopefully, this article helps one to some extent. To summarize:
- Sundarbans National Park is mainly about mangroves, river cruises and tigers
- However, observing local life and culture can be equally enriching an experience
- Look for a tour package that offers cultural experience in the package, or else, plan yourself for the best experience; it’s not at all difficult
- Walk around the villages and interact with local people learning their perspective on life, livelihoods, forests, wildlife and tourism.
Jayvanti Einjen
Very Very nice information keep it up
stampedmoments
Thank you! Waiting for the next trip 🙂
Rupali
Beautifully captured Sunderban in words and pics
stampedmoments
Thanks Rupali 🙂
Have you been to Sundarbans?
It’s such an amazing place!
Soumen Chatterjee
Thanks for lovely information.As it states Sundarbans National Park is world’s largest estuarine mangrove eco-system, and also the largest delta formed by three rivers- the Ganges and Brahmaputra (both flow through India and Bangladesh), and Meghna (Bangladesh). The rivers divide into hundreds of streams and crisscross each other to form hundreds of islands before meeting the Bay of Bengal.
Pakhiralay, a quaint village by the beautiful Datta river was the best thing that happened to us on this Sundarbans trip. With more than 900 families, and nearly 5000 population, it’s not really a small village, but a poor one. Majority of the households belong to the Schedule Castes. More over a lot of local NGOs are working in and around the villages. The drinking water is a great concern for the villages as it’s close to the sea so during flood the most of the villages gets submurged in the water.Though tourism has impacted the lives of people but it also cause environmental issues as many boats hover round and emits harmful carbon dioxide.
2nd was Sajnekhali- Dobanki- ‘Five Rivers Meeting Point’. I think u must have tasted palm tree nector juice in Bengali we say Khejur gacher ros but if u keep it for hours under sun then it gets fermented and becomes alcohol which is called ” Tari”.
Sudhanyakhali forest was awome , so do Sajnekhali wildlife sanctuary.Dobanki forest camp must have been a nice experience.
Five-rivers meeting point (or, Panchmukhani in local language): three major rivers- Bidyadhari, Matla and Datta, and two minor rivers- Chadabida and Hedokhanga.
Next was ,Sundarbans Tiger Reserve is a subset of the larger Sundarbans National Park. The Tiger Reserve has three main zones: the buffer zone, the sanctuary zone and the core zone. Tourists can go only into the buffer zone. Righty said Sudarban is more than seeing animals and most people visit to see the great Royal Bengal Tiger which is very different to find or get a sight. But now and then people staying in the villages get attacked by tigers when they go in the forest to get woods or collect nector from the bee hives.
I think in the boat you must have got to eat a lot of Bengali cuisine specially variety of fish.
Overall it’s a fantastic blog.
stampedmoments
Hey Soumen! There again!
Thanks for reading, and leaving a feedback.
Ryan Biddulph
Seeing those trees growing inside of the water always fascinated me when I watched nature shows about the Sundarbans as a kid in the States. Also, seeing tigers stalking folks, and the genius people who designed masks that flashed eyes and a face on the back of their heads. Eyes always on the tiger even when walking away. Smart!
Ryan
stampedmoments
Hi Ryan!
Good to know that you learnt about the Sundarbans in your childhood.
Yeah, it’s such a fascinating place!
Would love to know more about you. Will check your website.
Thanks a lot for your feedback.
Sarita Rout
We live so near to the national park, and yet have not visited till now. Reading this, now inspired to visit soon.
stampedmoments
Oh yes, you must visit Sundarbans; plan the coming winter.
Sharon
Very informative blog. It makes me want to visit Sundarbans one day.
stampedmoments
So glad to know that the blog was helpful.
Thanks for your feedback.
Please keep connected. Cheers!