Tides and Trails - A Sundarbans Odyssey

In this day and age of the Covid, opportunities to travel are far and few in between; so when one such opportunity presented itself, there were no second thoughts before confirming. 

With the entire family including the parents jumping at the chance, we were all set. However there was some dampening news that our daughter could not be part of the trip due to her semester exam dates clashing with the travel dates. Even with a couple of adjustments, we could not ensure that she would travel with us. 

One last option was to push the travel dates to Jan 2022, which we did not due to other commitments - a decision that proved to be wise since West Bengal went into lockdown the day after we returned home.

Yes, the siren from Sundari came calling and we willingly went into her arms for a short trip. With flight tickets booked, RTPCR test reports in hand, we flew into Kolkata on 29th December 2021. 

With the bags loaded into cars, we waded into the cacophonous chaos that has always been a part and parcel of Kolkata. Vehicles do not move unless the horns are blaring and yet, you rarely if at all, see any conflict between drivers. On the way, we did see several scenes of chaos but nothing that resulted in an argument between drivers or delay the drive. 

The sights and sounds of this part of West Bengal have been part of memories and the sight of the diesel pump powered tricycle rickshaws being an ubiquitous presence.

With loads of construction and increased human presence has made a significant change to the way the villages en-route appear. 

e-Rickshaws - Hopefully these will soon replace the heavily smoking diesel tricycle vehicles which are ubiquitous in this region,

We reached Gadkhali ferry ghat at 13:45, we straightaway got on to the boat and got underway and immediately set into the food that was prepared and laid out for us on the boat.

With lunch out of the way, and only a couple of hours available to explore, we immediately set out. Soon we saw a Saltwater Crocodile swimming ahead of us and were happy to get an early start to our wildlife experience.

With a dear friend, who has had the luck of the devil in his past trips, we were full of anticipation of what is to come over the next few days. Believe you me....we were not disappointed, even though we did miss seeing the elusive Tiger yet again!! Here is a photo journey of some of the fauna we did get to see....