7 Days – Sundarbans National Park

1. Mangrove forest and ecosystem
2. Home to the magnificent Royal Bengal Tiger
3. Ganges and Irrawaddy dolphins
4. Eustarian crocodile
5. Boat ride
6. Birding in mangrove forest
7. One of the biggest tiger reserves in India
8. Lead by an experienced Naturalist & tour leader

1. Sundarbans National Park

2. Kolkata

About Sundarbans – 

The Sundarbans National Park is a national park, tiger reserve, and biosphere reserve in West Bengal, India. It is part of the Sundarbans on the Ganges Delta and adjacent to the Sundarbans Reserve Forest in Bangladesh. It is located in the southwest of Bangladesh. The delta is densely covered by mangrove forests and is one of the largest reserves for the Royal Bengal tiger.

Sundarbans has its name from the Sundari tree. It is the most exquisite variety of trees in this area, a special kind of mangrove tree. It has specialized roots called pneumatophores, which emerge above ground and help in gaseous exchange, i.e. respiration. During the rainy season, when the entire forest is waterlogged, the spikes rising from the ground peak in the air and help in the respiration process.

The present Sundarbans National Park was declared the core area of Sundarbans Tiger Reserve in 1973 and declared a national park on 4 May 1984. The total area (including water) was estimated at 16,900 square kilometers (6,526 sq mi). It was a water-logged jungle in which Tigers and other wild beasts abounded. Attempts at reclamation had not been very successful.

The Sundarbans are intersected by river channels and creeks, some of which afforded water communication throughout the Bengal region both for steamers and native ships. The maximum part of the delta is located in Bangladesh.

The average altitude of the park is 7.5 m above sea level. The park is composed of 54 small islands and is intersected by several distributaries of the Ganges River.

The average minimum and maximum temperatures are 20 °C and 48 °C respectively. Rainfall is heavy with humidity as high as 80% as it is close to the Bay of Bengal.

Sunderbans mangroves form part of the largest mangrove system of the Indian subcontinent with a tiger population in a distinct ecological setting. These forests have saltwater crocodiles, estuarine and marine turtles, and several bird species. The reserve also contains species of fishing cats, spotted deer, rhesus macaque, and wild boars.

The Sunderbans are isolated with no forest connection to other Tiger-occupied mainlands. Due to this, there is heavy biotic pressure on forest resources. On average, 50 metric tonnes of honey and 3 metric tonnes of wax are collected annually by locals under license from the Indian Forest Service. The habitat is traversed by many narrow tidal channels forming small to large islands. Tigers readily cross these islands and human-tiger interactions are common.

The estimation of the tiger population in Sunderbans, as a part of the all-India Tiger estimation using the refined methodology, could not be carried out owing to the unique habitat and obliteration of evidence due to high and low tides. Phase-I data collection has been completed and the process is on for Tiger estimation using a combination of radio telemetry and pugmark deposition rates from known Tigers.

Day-to-Day Itinerary –

Day 1 – Kolkata

Depending on your flight/train timing, a Taxi will pick you up and drive you to a city hotel in Kolkata. On reaching the hotel, after check-in, you are free to explore the city, look for monuments and heritage sites, and taste some delicious food and sweets. At 7 P.m., the group will meet at the hotel lounge/dining for a group introduction, and our tour leader will give you the tour details. This will be followed by drinks and dinner. Overnight stay in Kolkata.

Meals – Dinner
Optional activity – City tour (At an extra cost)

Day 2 – Sundarbans National Park

Today, after breakfast, we will drive from Kolkata to Gadkhali (Entry point for the Sundarbans, a 3-3.5-hour journey). After reaching Gadkhali, we will shift to our boat and have lunch in the boat. In the afternoon, we will sail our boat through the creeks and canals of the Sundarbans and do birdwatching, looking for other animals. In the evening, we will get down from our boat and shift to our comfortable resort. Dinner and an overnight stay will follow.

Meals – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Activity – Half-day safari

Day 3 to 5 – Sundarbans National Park

Full-day cruise inside the forest exploring various creeks and canals with visits to watchtowers/canopy-walk, breakfast, and lunch on board, overnight at the resort with dinner.

Meals – Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Activity – Full-day boat safari

Day 6 – Sundarbans National Park to Kolkata

Pre-sunrise check out from the resort, Full-day cruise inside the forest exploring various creeks and canals with visits to watchtowers/canopy-walk with breakfast and lunch on board, evening drop at Gadkhali, and transfer to Kolkata by night. Overnight stay in Kolkata.

Meals – Breakfast & Lunch
Activity – Full-day boat safari

Day 7 – Kolkata – Trip ends

Today according to your flight/train timing our taxi will drop you. The trip ends here.

Meals – Breakfast 

Includes

1. Airport transfers (Pick up & drop)
2. Accommodation on a sharing basis
3. Accommodation on Single sharing ( at an extra cost)
4. Domestic flights/trains if required
5. All Meals as mentioned in the itinerary
6. All activities as mentioned in the itinerary
7. National park entries, forts/monuments/heritage building entries, city tours, adventure activities as mentioned in the itinerary 
8. All ground transportation in Air conditioned Taxi
9. Services of 1 tour leader + local guides/trackers (if applicable)
10. Service of potters
11. Gratuities/Tips to the Taxi driver, resort staff, local guide, boat skipper, etc

Excludes

1. Camera charges
2. Visas
3. Flights (All internationals)
4. Travel Insurance
5. Optional Activities
6. Drinks, Tips, phone calls, laundry & items of a personal nature
7. Gratuity to Expedition leader or tour leader 
8. Anything that is not mentioned in the “Included section”