Week Ending March 1, 2020

Wednesday we flew to Kolkata.  Our Branch assignment was not until Saturday, so we had a couple of days to explore the Sunderbans--one of the items on our bucket list.  The Sunderbans or "beautiful forest" is a delta formed by the confluence of the Ganges, Bramaputra and Neghna Rivers running into the Bay of Bengal and covers about 6,526 miles.  Roughly one third is in West Bengal, India and the other 2/3 is in Bangladesh.  Its 3,900 square mile mangrove forest has been described as a "water logged jungle." 

During Mughal times and then under the Portuguese it was inhabited by pirates, salt smugglers and bandits.  It was first "managed" by the British East India Company in the 1860s.  Today about 4 million people live in the delta and subsist by fishing, a little farming and gathering honey.  

We went with an outfit out of Kolkata called Backpackers, leaving Thursday morning and driving 3.5 hours southeast to the village of Gosaba.    

We spotted this cute little boy playing in a box outside his house in one village.

At Gosaba we boarded a boat and traveled an additional 2 hours to the Backpacker Eco Lodge near Dayapur on an island.  Elder Joe and Sister Lori Plater, the humanitarian couple, were also along with us.

 Our pilot and our guide, Sonu.

We saw a variety of boats on the river.  This is a local ferry taking people from one side of the Bidyadhari River to the other.

We saw large freighters returning empty to Kolkata after bringing fly ash (to make concrete) to Bangladesh.  The rivers in the delta are salty and tidal.  The big ships going south have to wait for the tide to be going out in order to sail.  When the tide is coming in they just anchor and wait for it to turn.  Conversely, ships going north, up the delta, travel when the tide is going in.

We reached the eco lodge by early afternoon.  Our hut was built in a traditional way with mud walls and a rice straw thatched roof.  The windows only had metal bars and shutters.  The weather was perfect, however, and we were very comfortable sleeping with the shutters open.

We took an interesting walk in the nearby village where each home had a few small cows and several goats.

Each also  had a pond in front to catch water and raise fish to eat.  

Only part of the rice paddies were under cultivation as this was the dry season.  

A fishing boat at low tide.

Thursday evening we enjoyed some music provided by locals.  It was more interesting than melodious.

  

We spent Friday on the boat, chugging up and down the rivers observing wildlife on the mud flats and in the water. We spotted Lesser Adjutant Storks (above), Collared Kingfishers, a Brown Wing Kingfisher, a White Throated Kingfisher, a Crested Serpent Eagle, an Indian Darter, Rose Ring Parakeets, and Indian Pond Herons and cranes.

Monitor Lizards

Alluvial Crocodiles

Meanwhile below, next to the large diesel engine, the cooks were preparing first our breakfast and then our lunch.

Our tasty lunch consisted of eggplant, potato and cabbage curry, bitter gourd and green beans with dahl (in the bowl) and of course rice and sliced cucumber for a "salad."

The wildlife was interesting but what everyone who visits the Sundarbans wants to see is the Royal Bengal Tiger, the national animal of both India and Bangladesh and among the biggest cats alive.  We arrived at the Dobanki Watchtower, the second (and last) of two observation towers we visited in the late afternoon and waited and watched in vain for nearly an hour before going back to the boat.  While waiting for one last person in our group to return, the guide suddenly rushed up and motioned for us to get off the boat.  A tiger had been spotted.  We ran back to the tower and waited.  Soon the deer grazing near the fresh water pond (built to attract tigers) darted away and out of the mangroves ambled a large tiger.

He walked to the edge of the pond and took a long drink--lapping up the water with his huge pink tongue, just like a kitty cat. 

As we watched, another, smaller tiger walked across the open area.  After about a half hour, both walked away. 

As the big guy disappeared into the mangroves he turned and growled at us.  He was probably annoyed by the crowd of onlookers.  We were thrilled!  We had seen not one but two tigers!

The tiger sighting delayed our departure from the Forest and it was dark by the time we arrived, by auto, to the ferry and crossed the river to Gosaba where our van was waiting to take us back to Kolkata.  We arrived in Salt Lake City around 10 p.m. happy to have seen our Sunderban tigers.

Saturday we spent time with some of the Branch members.  We love those people so much!  We went with Anita Pyne and her daughter Bubbles to the Sara Mela being held just down the road from our hotel.  It was full of interesting Bengali handicrafts and food items.  Anita suggested that I try some churpi, a hard Yak's milk cheese.  It is traditionally made in Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet Sikkim (in NE India) and Darjeeling in West Bengal.  Buttermilk is boiled and the liquid drained off the solids which are then wrapped and pressed in jute and hung over a fire to harden further.  It was very hard and slightly smoky.  Wouldn't recommend it. 

On Sunday Sujal Saha was released as Branch President.  He had served as such for eight years.  We sustained Soumya Kumbhakar as the fourth president in the 25 year history of the Kolkata Branch.  Here he is with his beautiful wife Rinki.  Soumya is a long time member, returned missionary (the first from the Branch) and former first counselor.  President Saha was sustained as Soumya's first counselor.  Love that branch!!