Sunderbans is a participant and incidentally one of the finalists of the 2011 hunt for new 7 Wonders of the World. Bengal should feel proud to see Sunderbans nominated along with some of the most beautiful natural wonders on this earth, such as the Table Mountain of South Africa, Great Barrier Reef of Australia, Amazon in South America and Black Forest in Germany to name a few.
The Bengal Chief Minister, Mr. Buddhadev Bhattacharya has requested all residents of Bengal to vote for the largest mangrove forest in the world. For us, Bengalis, it’s a matter of pride as well as that of sorrow. Pride of course for its selection in the 7 wonders list, and sorrow because of the negligence on the part of the authorities to save this delta from getting eroded.
Sunderbans is in the midst of extinction. It’s perhaps not very long when we will hardly get to see the stretch of land, with tigers and deer and the infamous sundari trees, spreading across parts of Bangladesh and West Bengal.
I was studying in class 4, when I went on a trip to the Sundarbans with my parents. We had to reach Canning, a place near to the delta, from where launches sail for the mangrove forest. Our launch had a big team of around 30 people, couples and families, mostly Bengalis. I was very thrilled over the thought of seeing a Royal Bengal Tiger or two and some deer on the way.
The trip was for 3 days and 2 nights and we had lots of fun on the ferry, with people singing and taking photos of the surrounding forest and that of the Bay of Bengal. I remember well of anxiously looking at the Sunderbans to find some big animal staring at me. In a sense, I was lucky to get a view of 2 to 3 deer. They have come to drink water at the shore. But, they instantly disappeared on hearing the loud engine noise from our ferries.
There were about 10 ferries in line, since the place is said to be frequented by sea-bandits, who come to loot the tourists, when given a chance. People seem to be scared on hearing this fro our launch manager, and as such all the ferries used to stay very close to each other during the nights.
The Sundarbans have a crocodile sanctuary, where crocs are fed and babies are hatched from eggs. There were also different kinds of snakes in that sanctuary. In another place, we got to see a man-size puppet, who was sitting with a hookah in his hand. It seemed to be absolutely real! When asked what this was for, the authorities told us that it is meant to scare the tigers, who frequent this place.
The puppet has electric wires in his body, which is activated very night, and if an animal touches the man, the animal gets a light shock and instantly runs away in fear. There was also a watch tower, from where we got a lovely view of a large area of the forest.
The trip to Sunderabans was a memorable event in my life. I was happy to visit the place, but I would be all the more happy if I could get to see the Royal Bengal Tiger at least for once!
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