Trip to Khajuraho, Panna & Lucknow

After returning from my last trip to Lahaul & Spiti, all my friends had only one question “What is your next plan in winter ?”. Normally my mind looks for “ A place where the high Mountains and the floating Clouds chat with each other  OR Some beautiful creation of nature playing in the green fields ”.  It was December 2015 and 25^th December fell on Thursday, so planning for the right destination began with my friends. One day my friend Anirban called up to inform that we need to book our train tickets the very next day as the booking window was opening then. My initial reaction was “YES we are going” and then enquired about the place. Anirban is a Mountain-lover but this time he said that we are going to Lucknow. Next day morning he booked our (Anirban,Moumita,Ratul, Payel,Nivedita and Me) tickets in Rajdhani Exp till Kanpur and also booked  return tickets after couple of days. Main attraction of our Lucknow trip was FOOD, market and obviously it’s rich heritage.

Our journey was  to start on 24^th December but Anirban and Moumita had to dropped off from the trip due to some unavoidable situations. I started some analysis on the trip plan and as is obvious put some real spice to the plan by  adding Khajuraho and Panna National forest to the 3 days’ plan !!!

THE J’NIGHT: Day Zero

It was 24^th December, I, Ratul, Nivedita and Payel reached Sealdah station at 4:30PM from our offices and took 4:50PM Sealdah Rajdhani. We were very excited as it was our first journey in Rajdhani Express.  Train left the station on time and in  due time,  snacks was delivered and we said WoW after looking at the food J . We had very good dinner too and went to bed a bit early.

Day One : 25^th Dec, 2015 :

We were bit worried that  train might reach late due to the prevailing foggy conditions during December time,  but to much of our relief , it was bang on  time, we reached Kanpur at 5:10AM in the morning. A car for next 3 days was already booked so I called our driver and came to know that he is waiting outside. It was chilly morning in Kanpur. We boarded  the  car and started our journey. After 2 minutes he asked “ Where are we going ??? “. I said OMG, I had told and mailed my complete plan to your agency and you are asking this question. Anyways Ratul pacified me  and told him to drive to Khajuraho when another funny thing happened as he asked “US” for the route!!! At last Nivedita used her mobile app and we started our journey !!!

Sunrise on the way to Khajuraho

It was 5 hours beautiful journey with sunrise on the way, we reached Khajuraho at around 10:30AM. We went to our hotel “Hotel Casa Di William” which I had already booked through Yatra. Hotel was wonderfully located bang opposite the Western Group of temples. We took some refreshments and heavy breakfast at rooftop restaurant from where we got the glimpse of Western Group of temples. We took some guidance from  the hotel manager who also gave us a map of Khajuraho, we then started our day tour in our car.

Khajuraho has got three campuses: Southern , Eastern and Western. As Western campus was a stone’s throw distance from the hotel, we decided to go to Eastern and Southern campus first and then to Western campus.

We proceeded to Eastern Campus first. It was around 3-4 KM from our hotel. We visited some beautiful temples as follows :

Javeri Temple

Brahma Temple

Vamana Temple

After spending around 1hr we moved to Southern Campus. It was around 1-2 KM from Eastern Campus. This section has got more temples than Eastern section.

Parshvanath Temple

Kosti Pathor er Murti

Adinatha Temple

Duladeo Temple

Chaturbhuj Temple

After completion of Eastern and Southern campuses, we came back to our hotel  for some refreshments and then were ready to head towards the Western Group of temples. The entrance fee is 10 Rs for Indians and 150 Rs. for foreigners. The Western group of temples is the largest group and is maintained very well by ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) and  are one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India.

The Western group had 85 temples by 12th century but only about 20 temples have survived and couple of them are as follows :

 

Varaha Temple

Lakshman Temple

Mahadev Temple

Vishwanath Temple

Chitragupta Temple

Devi Jagdambi Temple

Kandariya Mahadev Temple

Parvati Temple

We saw  a beautiful sunset and then decided to pack up as the complex closes with Sunset and the security at some  sections were already clearing the visitors.

Sunset at Western Group of Temple Campus

We walked towards MATANAGESHWAR TEMPLE.

12 Feet Shiva lingams at Matanageswar Temple

This is the only temple where puja is still performed by devotees and this temple is outside the boundary walls of ASI Western Group. The shrine is 12 feet high that is made of shiny yellow limestone. It is considered as the holiest of the temples of Khajuraho. This temple has one of the largest Shiva lingams of India.

By this time we were quite hungry and decided to eat some freshly prepared Aloo Parathaas followed by a cup of Tea. We then decided to check out the Sound and Light Show at the Western temple complex. There are basically two shows one in English and followed by Hindi version. The English version starts at 7.30 PM and goes on till 8.30 PM. The Hindi version starts at 8.30 PM and ends at 9.30 PM. We decided to check out the Hindi version as we were told that the Hindi version has voice over by Amitabh Bachchan and we could not afford to miss that.

Cost of the ticket is Rs.200 per person. There is basically no seat reservations, there are rows of plastic garden chairs and you grab whichever position you want. We were over- enthusiastic before the show, so chose the first row to have a clear view. We were feeling real north Indian chilled winter while sitting under the stars. The show started with the familiar baritone of Amitabh Bachchan and the temple started getting lit from different angles in different hues ably presenting before us the many stories that these temples have seen unfolding

After the show we went back to the hotel and had our dinner. We went to bed a bit early as next day we had planned for 6:30AM morning safari in Panna National Forest.

Day Two : 26^th Dec, 2015 :

Woke up early and started our journey by 4:30AM in our car. Madla Gate was only 35KM but took more than an hour as some part of the road was horrible. I had already booked a safari car so met with the driver and gave him all our documents. The queue was quite long so took sometime to get the permit.

Our safari started around 6:30AM , we   came across Nilgai, Peacocks, spotted deer ,sambar deer, Cheetal, Chinkara, Langoor, Wildboar etc.

We were very excited after seeing Chinkara and Nilgai for the first time in our life.  Nivedita and I have visited many Tiger reserves but so far have had no luck of tiger-sighting,  Ratul had seen some couple of times so we were relying on his luck this time. Panna is a tiger reserve but tiger sighting is not that common  so I was actually not expecting to see the BOSS.  Although our  guide tried to give us hope by saying   “Main Jaan laga dunga aapko Tiger dikha ne ke liye lekin aapka naseeb bhi ho na chaiye !!!”. I was smiling as I had heard such commitments in the past too, anyways I was enjoying every moment of the journey and capturing them with my 150-500mm lens. Our Guide told the driver to go to a particular place and told him to wait for sometime and then moved towards a view point where we saw a big queue of safari cars. We got down from our safari car and reached to the view point. We saw that many people along with the guides were looking towards a island in  the Ken river. The jungle is really beautiful specially along with the Ken river. Suddenly a guide screamed with excitement saying there is the BOSS. I used my “bazooka” and yes I saw two young tigers playing in the island.

I was overwhelmed as this was my first tiger-sighting and you can understand my reaction. I shared my camera with Ratul,Nivedita and Payel for close view of them.

After sometime their mom came out from the jungle and three of them were playing with water in the Ken river.

We spent almost 30 minutes before they disappeared inside the jungle. It was a GREAT safari experience as I and Ratul also sighted a black Bear  and many birds while returning towards exit gate.

 

We came back to the hotel at Khajuraho , had early lunch and started for Lucknow at around 12:30PM. Again a long journey of 300KM took around 7.5 hrs with couple of small breaks. We went to our hotel “Hotel Charans International” which I had already booked through Cleartrip. It is on Vidhan Sabha Marg so centrally located. Our next destination as per plan was Dastarkhwan restaurant. Luckily this was 5 minutes walk from our hotel. We ordered Galawati Kabab, Awadhi Biryani, Ulte tawe ka Parantha, Chicken Masala. This restaurant and the menu was also part of my prior googling J . The food was really awesome specially Galawati Kabab and Chicken Masala. We came back to our hotel with more than FULL stomach and went to bed with 200% satisfaction J

Day Three : 27^th Dec, 2015 :

After having last night’s dinner we had a wonderful sleep and woke up at around 7AM and then had Tea and started our Lucknow day trip at 8:30AM. Our driver was very much aware of all the tourist places of Lucknow so quickly we planned our route and started with Bara Imambara (Bhool Bhulaiyaa).On the way my photographer mind was expecting crowd free Bara Imambara (Bhool Bhulaiyaa) at 9AM in the morning and YES when we reached it was almost us who visited FIRST so quickly I completed my photography of Bara Imambara campus. The entrance fee is 50 per person and guide is must for Bhool Bhulaiyaa. We took the same guide for complete Bara Imambara complex and he told us many interesting stories.

Bara Imambara

Masjid at Bara Imambara

He took us to the upper stories of Bara Imambara via Bhool Bhulaiyaa and on return he threw a challenge to us to go out by ourselves. It is almost impossible to come out on our own at the first attempt but our driver knew the trick and we could come out J. It was really interesting and the best part of Lucknow.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa

We took some breakfast from Lucknow street just in front of Roomi Darwaza. The structure is very beautiful of it.

Roomi Darwaza

We then proceeded towards Chota Imambara. This is small but much beautiful than Bara Imambara.

Chota Imambara

Our next destination was Husainabad Clock Tower, one can see it from the road but there is small museum attached to it. We went to the Husainabad Clock Tower and visited the museum.

Husainabad Clock Tower

In order to make our Lucknow visit more interesting, we had watched  Feluda’s bengali movie  “Badsahi Angti” just before our trip as the whole movie was shot in Lucknow and all the famous tourist places are shown. One of my eye catching place was “Residency” so I was very excited as our next destination was “Residency”. We spend almost 2hours there and I liked the most.

Residency

By then we were really hungry and our lunch destination was “Tundey Kabab” restaurant but this is the only part of my tour plan which FAILED completely. This restaurant is completely inside the old market place and it was completely in mess due to “Sunday Haat”. After some real trouble, somehow we managed to reach to the restaurant. It is very old in Lucknow but we were very disheartened as they only serve “Paratha” and “Beef Tundey Kabab” so we had to return from the restaurant and without wasting any more minute, we went to our favorite restaurant “Dastarkhwan” and had another round of sumptuous food. While waiting, Ratul very casually told me that cricket commentator Charu Sharma was having lunch just behind us but it was exciting moment for me being a cricket lover.

After lunch we came back to our hotel and started for Kanpur railway station at around 3PM and reached at 6PM. I and Ratul went to pack our dinner and got into Rajdhani at 21:20 and said “Good Bye“ to Lucknow on a HIGH !!!

 

The wild-wild Trip of Jaldapara

Being a jungle lover and a resident of West  Bengal, I was destined to visit  Jaldapara National Park, especially “Hollong Forest Bungalow” , the most thrilling place to stay in Jaldapara. This Bungalow  is 7kms deep inside the forest and on the bank of Hollong river. The Bungalow does not have too many rooms, due to this getting rooms booked is extremely difficult. Some of my friends already had this experience from whom I came to know that despite the difficulty , once you crack it , you can be rest assured for some unmatched experience of a lifetime. It was the month of December when we started trying to book the rooms , but understood that it is actually much more difficult than we thought  it would be to get a room,  especially getting bookings for the weekends. We were 7 this time ( Anirban, Moumita, Chhuti, Ratul, Abhinanda, Nivedita and Me ) so required 3 rooms. After trying for couple of days, we managed the booking for just one night from http://www.wbtdc.gov.in/ at Hollong and booked the 2nd night at Chilapata Tourist Lodge as it is also inside the forest but there is no online portal for room booking. Anirban sent an application to the forest department and came to know that they confirm booking 30 days prior to arrival date but they completed our  virtual booking. Though few days later, they called Anirban and cancelled our virtual booking for some minister’s visit, so we had to be satisfied with Chilapata Jungle Camp(Mendabari) which is in buffer zone. Camp owner, Ganesh Sau is very helpful and arranged a Sumo for our complete transport.

 

Thursday 26-Mar, 2015:  We boarded the Kanchankanya Express from Sealdah station. Our tickets were booked till Hasimara though Madarihat is the closest railway station  to Hollong, but  the train doesn’t stop there. We met with another couple (Sudip and Moumita) who were travelling with their cute little daughter , who were in our coop and the strange bit was that they were also going to the same place “Hollong Forest Bungalow”. Anirban’s daughter “Chhuti” was very excited after seeing another  girl of her age and they played together all through out our journey. We enjoyed the journey with Adda and snacks.

Friday 27-Mar, 2015:  The next morning I woke up when the train reached NJP station. The journey from NJP to Hasimara was through forests and it was a beautiful ride. The greenery all around was lovely to watch and on the way we saw 2 elephants in the forest !!! We reached Hasimara at 11:30 am. Our driver was waiting outside so we all boarded the Sumo and started for Hollong.

The road from Hasimara to Madarihat was quite good apart from a couple of rough and bumpy patches. After an hour-long ride we reached the entrance check post for Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary. After some formalities, we started our ride through a narrow  road inside the forest and reached Hollong lodge within 15-20 mins.

Hollong Bunglow

At the lodge, after showing our booking slip to the caretaker, he allotted our rooms and asked whether we would be interested to take the elephant safari next morning. Elephant safari start from Hollong and the jeep safari start from the Jaldapara Tourist Lodge which is at Madarihat. Elephant ride  was in our priority list so we booked 8 seats in the first elephant batch that would start at 6:00 am from Hollong. He said that the best chances of animal sightings are on the first elephant safari of a day. The cost of the elephant safari per head is Rs 500, and the duration is 1 hour.

We went to our allotted rooms and were pleasantly surprised to see such a wonderfully maintained government property. After some refreshments, we came out to the 1^st floor sitting area where our snacks were waiting for us. The boy showed us the salt-pit area from the window and told us to keep our eyes on it as this is the magical area. The  salt-pits which serve as the mineral source for the animals, is built in a clearing so that  people can view the wild animals (in this case from the lawns and even the windows of the Bungalow) when they come to lick the salt. After refreshing ourselves, we went to the sitting area near the salt pit, but the area was completely vacant and came to know that the lodge guys will rebuild the salt-pit at around 3:30PM. Hollong river has kept this lodge safe from the wild animals however, the river is almost like a thin stream with just ankle-deep water and 2 feet wide :-P.

Hollong RIver separating the Jungle and Hollong Bunglow

We had some time, so planned to visit  the near-by Mahout village. We met some of the villagers and saw a Mahout giving milk to the elephant calf and also some domestic elephants with their calves

I am Soooo Hungry !!!

Domestic Elephant with Calf

Suddenly a Mahout came and told us that a Rhino has been seen in the water body nearby, so we went with him and saw a Rhino within 300-400 meters distance.

First Rhino sighting

We all were very excited after this unexpected glimpse of the endangered single horned Rhinoceros for which Jaldapara is so famous, though we were not aware about what was waiting for us !!!

We then returned  to the lawns inside the Hollong Bungalow  compound and sat beside the Hollong river. Two lodge guys went to the salt pit area with salts and rebuild the salt pits.

Preparing Salt Pit for Tourists

Our eyes were eagerly waiting looking towards the jungle and suddenly 3 Bisons came out from the jungle one by one near the salt pit and started licking the salt.

3 Hunks

After 20-30 minutes almost 30-40 bison with calves  came to that area.

Herd of Bisons

After a few minutes, a some Sambhars came to lick salt. All the action was happening at a stone throw distance from us and, we all were busy in capturing photos J  .After almost 30min it started getting dark, the Bisons and Sambhars also started dispersing, we suddenly spotted a  Rhino Walking  out of  the dense bushes that surround  the bungalow compound, it was so exciting to see a wild Rhino at hardly 30-40 feet distance , coming  out from the same side as that of us . Then, the rhino crossed the stream and  walked slowly to the salt-pit and started to have his fill.

I also need Salts

By then it was dark and we went back to the 1^st floor sitting area and had Tea and snacks.

Outside was completely dark, so a lodge boy gave us a big handheld searchlight, but told us the norm of not keeping the lights on more than 1minute at a stretch. This is done so that the animals do not get disturbed. Ratul took charge of the searchlight and slowly turned the lit searchlight from right to left, so that the full salt-pit  area was visible for a minute, but till then the same Rhino that went past us was there busy licking salt . After repeating the searchlight action  a  couple of times we saw a big herd of elephants with number of baby elephants  !!! We ran downstairs and to the lawns , there we were out in the open wilderness, only  the thin stream separating us and the elephants J. Suddenly an elephant roar completely scared us and we all rushed back to the 1^st floor sitting area. Every 5 mins Ratul turned on the searchlight, and did the right-to-left sweeping action regime for 30secs lighting up the whole area , the herd of elephants stayed there for long. After some time, we went to our rooms and then had a very good Indian dinner at around 9PM. Post dinner we again went to 1^st floor sitting area, the elephants had left by then, and again a herd of Bisons were there near the salt pit ! All of us stayed there till late night anticipating more animals J , after all its human nature to never be satisfied with what one gets!! We came back to our room at about 12am, and went to sleep as we had to wake up early the next day. It was the end of an excited day and I must admit that I have never spent a day like that !!!

Saturday 28-Mar, 2015:

The next morning we were woken up at 4.30am with bed-tea. I rushed to the lawn and saw a Rhino standing at the salt pit area. Numerous birds were chirping,  and the surroundings were looking absolutely superb. We got ready for the safari  and went to the lawns, but found that the safari would take place but after a slight delay.

The safari started at 6.30am, I selected the most experienced elephant “Madhumalati”.

Experienced Madhumalati with its Mahout

The elephants crossed the Hollong river just outside the lodge. After we went to the other side of the river, the dense jungle area started.

Couple of Lucky chaps on Elephant Safari

The feeling of going through a dense forest with branches of trees brushing against our faces was very exciting! We got a glimpse of a small Rhino lying in the water body only with its horn and eyes visible.

I am HERE

Soon, we crossed the forest and reached an open grassland area. After going through this area, we turned back into an area of even more dense forest. The mahout was using some funny language to communicate with the elephants. We spotted a some Sambhars, another Rhino, and birds like hornbill, kingfisher etc. This was probably the best part in the whole tour.

A Great Hornbill

We came back to the lodge at around 8AM and were roaming around the place when  a forest dept person came over and asked us to go inside the lodge as it was dangerous to walk outside. Initially we didn’t understand the reason but then came to know that there was a mad elephant on the loose in the jungle, it had disturbed the Mahout villagers whole night and it was still around the place. We went to the lawn area and saw lots of  parrots and some other birds in the salt pit area.

Chirping Greenery

We then noticed a peacock had flown to a tree, and soon it also came down and started to show a dance.

Look at My Colours

While, we were busy photographing the peacock, we suddenly spotted the wild Tusker running towards the jungle.

Catch Me If You Can !!!

After spending some time , we had our breakfast, settled out bill and left for our next destination – Phuentsholing. Our vehicle was waiting for us, none of us were ready to leave the place, but we had to !!!

Phuentsholing is a border town in southern Bhutan, which adjoins the Indian town of Jaigaon. We reached Phuentsholing at around 12 pm and understood that one doesn’t need any visa to visit this part of Bhutan. We visited a beautiful monastery “Kharbandi Goemba” , situated at an altitude of 400m. We also visited a crocodile interpretation center.

Crocodile Interpretation Center at Phuentsholing

We came back to the city center and had  Bhutanese lunch. After spending  some time visiting some local  shops, we started our journey towards Chilapata. We reached Jungle Camp at around 4PM and met with  owner Mr Ganesh Sau. After some refreshment we came back to the common area and booked our next morning jungle safari with Ganesh-Ji. We came out from the camp and roamed around the local area. We came back to our camp spent the evening with Adda and evening snacks. We had our dinner at 9PM and went to bed after a long day.

Sunday 29-Mar, 2015:

We woke up at around 5:30AM and  boarded  the safari jeep at 6AM. We reached  the Chilapatha safari check-post at Kodalbasti and paid the entry fees. Our jeep entered  the jungle, the big trees lining the forest roads with their dense canopy looked awesome. We didn’t spot many animals in the jungle apart from some peacocks, wild hens, birds and monkeys. Oh yes, I should mention that our safari driver claimed of spotting a leopard which was anyway invisible for us !!!

This sector is enriched with its own archaeological and historical importance as well. NAL RAJAR GARH is the most ancient historical place of the entire DOOARS. We saw the ruins of the fort, which tells the history of the Nal kings.

Ancient historical place Nal Rajar Garh

After 3 hours safari , we drove back to the lodge and had breakfast. We started our onward journey to New Alipurduar but  via Buxa and Jayanti. We reached The gate of BUXA Forest. Permission is required to enter the reserve forest which is around Rs170 per car, for still and movie camera you have to spend more.

Beautiful Buxa

We spent some time in the forest, though we had a glimpse of only flying peacock and monkeys ! Our driver stopped at a point to show us a walking path towards a small hill which housed a water-body which is believed to attract all animals during summers when other water-bodies become dry. We had to trek about 1+ KM to reach the top of the hill where we saw  the holy “Pokhori ”, it was filled with big fishes and some tortoises.

Holy Pokhri filled with Big fishes and Tortoises

The trek is mostly moderate, with some steep parts. We came down from the hill and proceeded towards Jayanti.

Jayanti is no doubt a beautiful place with – Mountains, Jungle and a wide river bed.

Jayanti River

We spent some time at  the Old British bridge , which is now submerged in the river bed. In the past  people used this bridge to cross the Jayanti river, but subsequent floods sunk and destroyed the bridge . This  bridge was seen in the famous Bengali movie “Abar Aranye”.

The Old British Bridge at Jayanti

We went  to the Mahakaal Cave. Chota Mahakaal is about 1-2 hours steep trek from the cave so  we decided to drop the plan of going up to Chota Mahakaal as we had to catch the train. We started towards New Alipurduar and passed through another famous place called Rajabhatkhawa.

We reached New Alipurduar, and took the Saraighat Express  at 4:45pm. After a good night’s sleep in the train, we reached Howrah at 5:30am the next morning.

It was a short 2-night trip, but we enjoyed every moment. The feeling one gets inside the forests cannot be described. Even if one does not see any wild animal, the sounds of the forests and the feeling of being with nature is too exhilarating. This is certainly one trip, which I would like to repeat again and again!

Rendezvous with The Sundarbans

26^th January fell on Monday, so we were getting a long weekend, and long weekend in sight meant we would be logging on to www.irctc.co.in and the obvious destination – New Jalpaiguri station but this time Prithwi told a different name – the world’s largest mangrove forest “Sundarbans”. January is a perfect time to visit Sundarbans so we four friends Manindra, Prithwi, Arpan and I planned for a Sundarbans trip.

The Sundarbans is a natural region comprising of a National Park, Tiger Reserve, Biosphere Reserve and a UNESCO world heritage site. It covers more than 10,000 sq km of land and water (more than half of it in West Bengal, India, the rest in Bangladesh) in the Ganges delta. The Sundarbans in bengali means, ‘The beautiful forest’. There are some who believe that the word was derived from the name of a common species of mangrove – the sundari tree, Heriteria minor. The Sundarbans national park houses a large number of fauna species like fishing cats, leopard cats, macaques, wild boar, crocodiles, monitor lizards, snakes including python, king cobra, rat snake, Russell’s viper , colorful birds including open bill storks, black-capped kingfishers, black-headed ibis, water hens, coots, pheasant-tailed jacanas, grey-headed fish eagles, white-bellied sea eagles, seagulls, common kingfishers etc. This national forest’s most famous resident is the endangered, glorious but extremely dangerous “The Royal Bengal Tiger” which are also renowned “man-eaters”, due to their relatively high frequency of encounters with local people. The Sundarbans is home to more than 400 tigers. It has series of islands and about half are inhabited and some of the remaining islands have tourist accommodations.

We knew about package tours operated by the WBTDC but Manindra, after his intensive internet analysis, found out “Sunderban Tiger Camp” ( http://www.sunderbantigercamp.com ) , and we booked the offered 2N & 3D tour through their website from 24th January to 26th January @ Rs. 5100 (including tax) per head. Manindra and I, both had long zoom bridge camera and had till then never really got a chance to utilize the zoom features on a wild setting. So we were really excited to do some real wild life photography during this first jungle safari so count-down started.

Day 1: We went to the assigned pick-up point for the trip at 7.45am- in front of Priya Cinema near Deshapriya Park located in South Kolkata, West Bengal, India. We saw around 10-12 other tour members including some foreigners waiting at the pick-up point.We boarded a luxury bus (AC) with other members.

The White Pokhkhiraaj Ghora

Breakfast (2 Sandwich, Boiled Egg, Cake, Laddoo) and mineral water were served during our journey. The bus started around 8am, after around 3 hours journey, we reached a place called Gothkhali (on the river Hogol) from where we boarded a well-decorated Tiger Camp boat. Our much awaited jungle safari or rather water-borne jungle safari had now started through the beautiful blue colored river flanked by the verdant mangroves.

Beautiful Blues

Mangroves are very different from the normal trees that we see as these have developed physiological adaptations to overcome the problems of anoxia, high salinity, intense sunlight and frequent tidal inundation. Mangroves grow only in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics.

Mangroves

Sundari

We were given a welcome drink as soon as we settled down in the camp boat. Our guide, Mr Das greeted us, and provided us all the information that any visitor to the Sunderbans might want to know.

Guide Mr Das

We also got to know other members of the group. Majority of the group members were from West Bengal but one family was from Mumbai and 3 friends from Australia.We saw many boats(Not comparable with the tourist one) carrying local people as this is the only mode of transport for them.

Local Transport

After 2 hrs boat ride, we reached Waxpol Ghat- the entrance jetty to Sunderban Tiger Camp on Dayapur Island. The resort is located right opposite the Sunderban Tiger Reserve Forest separated just by River Pitchkhali.

First Ghat at Sundarban

Sundarban Tiger Camp

We went to our allocated cottage, and rested for a few minutes after a refreshing bath. We were extremely hungry after the arduous journey and could have devoured on any plain food that would have been offered to us, however what waited for us on lunch buffet filled us with delight – Rice, daal, vegetable curry, Bhetki fish curry, chutney, papad, salad, gulab jamun 🙂  .The quality of the food served throughout the tour was awesome.

Post lunch, we started off for our first sightseeing, Sajnekhali Tiger Reserve Project in the same Tiger Camp boat at around 3PM.

Sajnekhali Tiger Reserve

Inside the Sajnekhali Project they had built a Mangrove Interpretation Centre which is kind of a local museum. The complex also had a Bonbibi Temple and a watchtower. From watch tower we spotted couple of deer, crocodiles in the Crocodile Lake and few birds like goose, wild hen, etc.

Sudden Sighting from the Boat

We met one forest staff on Sajnekhali watch tower who told us of one Big Cat’s presence near the tower that was sighted two nights back ( I think they give these stories to the tourists in order to generate some excitement :-)) . At around 5PM, we set out for our camp and while on our way back, took some sunset snaps from our boat.

A Beautiful Sunset

Camp manager told us that snacks will be served while watching the folk dance by local artists so we went to our room and got ready for the evening program. A troop of local artists were waiting for us and the whole team came out and joined the program. Veg and paneer pakoda were served with hot tea and coffee and we enjoyed the evening a lot.

Evening with Folk Dance

We came back to our cottage after the program and had wonderful ADDA session amongst the four of us. Expectations with regard to food were high after the lunch, so I went to the dining place just to check the menu and once again I was delighted as they had my favorite Crab curry. I hurried back to our cottage to call my friends and they were also excited but a bit concerned as we all were a bit full after the sumptuous lunch and evening snacks !

By 8:30 pm dinner was served – rice, roti, daal, vegetable curry, crab curry, chutney, papad, salad and it was again buffet system, so all four of us unabashedly had lots of crab, I told my friends that “It is good that we all are full otherwise the Tiger Camp kitchen team would have to cut the crab curry from the menu for others” 🙂 We had to sleep early as the next morning’s tour was to start early. We came to know that in the morning, we will be going towards more core area, so there was a chance to sight The Big BOSS , now everything depended on our luck !

Day 2: We woke up at around 5 AM with a wake-up knock and bed tea. Our boat started at 6 am and cruised through creeks lined by dense forest. It was a wonderful foggy morning, words are not enough to describe the lush greenery surrounding the streams, coupled with the amazing wild-life sounds.  All our eyes were searching for that glimpse of the yellow striped BIG CAT as we were traveling through the narrow channels. They served English breakfast on the boat and it was awesome experience as we were enjoying the real jungle life with ultra-modern facilities 🙂

Char Murti (Four Friends)

After some time, we reached Dobanke (Two Turns – is the meaning) – the caged canopy walkway inside the forest , this is an interesting concept as we are in a cage being watched by the wild animals in their natural abode. This walk around the forest, if you discount the cage, will definitely give the thrill of being actually being amidst the wild animals, we saw few deer, but the Royal Bengal Tiger still eluded us. We also visited the Spotted Deer Rehabilitation Centre.

We then cruised through Matla Sea Face, the point from where Bay of Bengal can be seen. It was all blue and blue and we saw a ship which was quite far from us.

Bay Of Bengal

We saw local fisherman skilfully throwing open their fishing nets across the vast waters to catch fish, fishing is the main occupations amongst the locals.

Busy with Fishing

While coming back to our camp, we saw crocodiles basking in the sun on the banks of the river, spotted and barking deer and some wonderful migratory birds. Our guide suddenly spotted something and told the boat captain to go in a particular direction, when we reached near the river bank, we saw a big monitor Lizard.

Dangerous Crocodile taking Sunbath

Monitor Lizard

After some real wildlife photography, both Manindra and I were quite happy. We came back through the 5 river junction – to Pitchkhali. After strolling around the campus for some time we went for lunch. They again served an awesome traditional lunch including rice, daal, vegetable curry, desi chicken curry, chutney, papad, salad, rosogolla.

Post lunch, our guide took us to the neighboring village to interact with the local community at a typical Sunderban settlement to understand their local Art, Culture and Way of Life (how man and tiger coexist in such a difficult terrain). In simple words a “Rendezvous with the Rural Bengal”.

Locals busy sowing Rice

After talking to some local people , we understood that all tourists come here to see The Royal Bengal Tiger, but these local people are so much threatened that they don’t even want to hear that NAME !!!  We also visited a local Bonbibi Temple and came to know that Bonbibi is a guardian spirit of the forests venerated by both the Hindu and the Muslim residents of the Sundarbans, so that she can SAVE them from Tiger !!! They have a kind of local religion.

Bonbibi Temple

Bonbibi

We didn’t see any tiger but by now we understood that tiger sighting on a small trip like that of ours is almost impossible. One of the villagers showed us a tiger pug mark and we were so shocked that tiger prowls inside the villages, but they were casual, as it is regular, normal occurrence for them.

Pug Mark Of The Boss

Royal bengal tiger is a very good swimmer and can swim upto 18 miles at a go so coming to village is the simplest task for them. The pug mark was seen inside the village, so you can well understand how hazardous the lives of the Sunderban residents are and why although all tourists want to see and capture the Royal Bengal Tiger through their eyes and camera lens but the locals never want an encounter in their lifetime. We met two fishermen – they were organizing their nets to catch fish for the night.They told us that their lives are extremely uncertain, many fishermen go but never come back as saving oneself from tiger attack, that too at night time is a real challenge.They also have to deal with the problem of pirates.”If we don’t pay them they will kill us mercilessly” they added.

Honey collection is another and the most risky profession in the Sundarbans.Honey collectors normally go from island to island in their creaky boats collecting honey, made by some of the largest and most aggressive bees in the world.We met one very experienced honey collector who said that the biggest danger comes from the sly tigers as they are always on the prowl and they can kill us in an instant and then there are venomous snakes inside the forests and also crocodiles who remain hidden in the muddy waters waiting for an unsuspecting prey.

Yummy Yummy !!!

People residing in the Sunderbans villages have a tough life, irrespective of their profession. Not only the fishermen and honey collectors who venture into the forests for their livelihood are in constant fear of their life, even people inside villages are not entirely safe as the tigers are nowadays increasingly entering villages in search of prey.The locals use a common phrase in Sundarban – we live with ‘Danga-e Bagh, Jol-e Kumir’ (Tiger on land, crocodile in water). Yes, they have to. We tour, we explore, we enjoy – they just live and sometimes not!

Jol-e Kumir’ ( Crocodile in water )

Danga-e Bagh ( Tiger on land )

 

We did some sunset photography while coming from the village.

Village side ghat

A returning boat

After sometime, we came back to our resort and enjoyed the evening snacks watching a documentary on Sundarbans that was projected on a large screen. We all had ADDA in small groups. We rambled around the compound soaking in the quietness of the place occasionally broken by the calling of the varied nocturnal creatures . We had Chinese dinner at 9 pm that included – chicken fry, veg chowmein, chili-chicken, salad. We went to bed early as we had to start early morning for the last cruise tour.

Day 3: We woke up early and on hearing the varied chirping rushed outside our cottage with our cameras to capture some snaps of birds. We saw an owl sitting on a tree and also saw some other wonderful birds.

The Ogling Owl

We got  tea at 5am and were ready by 6am. We started our journey at 6:15 AM to visit Sudhanyakhali Watch Tower (all these ‘khali’, affixed with the names of so many places in Sundarbans is derived from ‘khal’- canal, which are the creeks) . The journey was awesome as the boat was passing through rivers and narrow creeks of Pitchkhali-Sarakhkhali-Sudhanokhali- Bonbibi Dharani (narrow creek).

Beautiful Creek

Dangerous Creek

 

We reached the Sudhanyakhali fenced areas, the roots of these trees are filled with small red crab, this is something that I have never seen before. Sailing through mangroves can be like going on a giant treasure hunt. Hidden within the twisted vines and branches are amazing reptiles, wild looking insects and plenty of crabs and other animals like crocodiles, mongoose , snakes etc which call the mangroves their home.

Mongoose

Lazy Crocodile

 

We went to the watch tower and spotted some animals like-deer, monkey, birds etc.

Spotted Deers

Cute Ancestor

After spending some time, we went to cruise around the Islands of the Sunderbans Tiger Project Area. We got hot Indian breakfast during cruise but all our eyes were browsing through the jungle. A wild boar appeared to fulfill our desire.
Couple of our fellow members asked guide- Mr. Das about his tiger sighting experience,  he told us that Sundarbans is not a place to just move around and expect meeting ‘his highness’ any time. They are supposed to have some characteristics as well as some unpredictable nature. In this huge area they normally move inside the jungle and generally, come out very early in the morning or evening. So a patient waiting coupled with good luck, may result into a lifetime experience of meeting the big cat.
True – very few fortunate tourists among the thousands of Sundarbans visitors get the big chance. We were not one of them. Sundarbans, however blessed us with its green beauty, birds, deer, crocodiles, wild boar, and lots of monkeys who enchanted us with their unique ‘monkey-ness’.

We came back to our camp and had another awesome hot lunch and then started our journey towards home.

Ghore Ferar Samay !!! (Journey towards END)

The boat took us to Gothkhali at around 1 PM and as soon as we came out of the Ghat, we found the same bus was waiting for us. We boarded the bus but almost everyone turned around to take a last look at the wonderful island. All the members were quiet as everyone understood that this is THE END to the wonderful trip.

Sunderban trip is not only about Royal Bengal Tiger sighting, but about exploring the amazing mangrove forests, its unique flora and fauna, sailing in the creeks alongside crocodiles, snakes and knowing about the tough lives led by the local residents. Our primary objective of the trip was to spend a quiet weekend amidst wild nature and we experienced more than what we had expected, tiger watching I won’t say was never on my cards, but yes even before our guide mentioned how elusive this animal can be, I knew about the same and hence would have been only happier had I sighted one. Nevertheless, I and my friends were very happy that we did this tour and came back with such an enriching experience that we are going to remember all our lives.