Mongla and the Sunderbans

We had read that Khulna was the best place to get a tour of the Sunderbans, but it was 40km away; Mongla was only 5km from the forest. We wanted to go on an overnight trip so we could get right down into the forest, because from Mongla it was apparently difficult to get more than a ‘taster tour’ of the reserve. As we wanted to get in there and see the forest without having to go all the way up to Khulna and then back, we decided to just take a day trip into the Sunderbans. We weren’t going deep into the forest – which basically put the kibosh on any chance of seeing a tiger! – but we liked the idea of just cruising through the forest and seeing some of it. So we did.

The next day, we jumped on our cute little tourist boat – painted red and blue and complete with potplants! – and headed off. Our guides were lovely guys and taught us a lot about the river, and we just cruised around some of the channels that snake through the northern reaches, initially passing small villages and rice padis; the further we ventured into the forest, the smaller the channels became and the forest closed in around us. Our first stop was the much-patronized Forestry Dept check point where we had to get our entry permit, and there was also a visitors’ centre with monkeys and spotted deer patrolling the edges of a mangrove boardwalk, bird hides, and a crocodile farm. Kinda creepily, one of our guides took great delight in feeding the caged crocodiles live frogs! This was apparently the limit to most Bangladeshi tourists’ visit to the Sunderbans, which is a pity because there is so much more to see.

The rest of the day we just cruised around the forest, on the lookout for life amongst the mangroves; but we knew that if we were to see anything, it would just be deer or birds. We didn’t really believe we’d see any tigers this close to civilisation; our guides had only seen two tigers in eleven years of guiding. The main wildlife we came across were birds, and also river dolphins. Every now and then they’d surface just ahead of our boat. They were quite unusual looking creatures, with tube-like noses.

As we were coming back, we came across a tourist boat with a motor problem, so we towed them back to Mongla. And then a big thunderstorm hit, and the rain fell – plenty of it! Our poor boat driver got drenched, but we were nice and dry in our little cabin. It was a surreal experience, cruising slowly on the river with the rain bucketing down around us and the thunder and lightning making a sound and light show. Other boats on the river glided by like ghost ships. It was cool. And luckily for us, the rain eased just as we made it back to port. So in all, we really only did get a taster tour of the Sunderbans, and looking back we should have made our way to Khulna to organise a two- or three-day tour to see it properly. But we still really enjoyed it.