The Sunderbans

I went looking for a tiger. The Sunderbans - the world's largest mangrove forest - contains the planet's largest concentration of Royal Bengal Tigers and they have a fearsome reputation for eating the locals, so I figured my odds were good. The Royal Bengal Tiger - I just wanted to see one.

I made the journey from Kolkata on Wednesday, January 21st on what would be a two day excursion to the Sunderban Tiger Camp. We - our small band of tiger seekers - were driven two and a half hours to a boat. As we drove, the transformation of the Indian landscape was incredible. The city of Kolkata became fields of brick makers, the brick makers became rice paddies, and then - once on the boat that would take another two and a half hours - the rice paddies became island villages where women in bright saris and men on bicycles traversed the brick lanes that run along the waterfront.

We reached camp around 3:00 - we had left Kolkata at 9:00. Audrey, a Florida born med student, and I were shown to our tent, which was unlike any tent I've ever stayed in. Apart from the canvas walls, it possessed no tentlike attributes. The structure had electricity, ceiling fans, a tin roof, an attached bath with an overhead shower and sit down toilet, and four single beds. Tent?

After settling in and dining buffet style in the camp's dining room - again, someone serving me tea complete with cup and saucer is unlike any "camping" experience I've ever had - we congregated back on the boat for a trip to the Sunderban Tiger Reserve's Visitor's Center. The Center turned out to be pretty hokey - tiger intestines in formaldehyde wasn't exactly what I was expecting - but the night concluded well with a Folk Dance presentation back at camp. Seven women danced to flute, drums, and singing. At one point, a tiger jumped out of the bushes, but we quickly discerned it to be only one of the dancers in a suit. Not all of us could contain a squeal though.

The next morning was an early one. 5:30 am tea and on the boat by 6:30. We slide around mangroved islands all morning, silently looking. The day before, our guide had showed us an article from that morning's newspaper reporting that a tiger had recently wandered into a village not far from camp. We stared hopefully into the bush - but to no avail. The journey, however, did not disappoint. We did manage to see a great number of luminous Kingfishers, a wild boar, several spotted deer, and - most excitingly - an animal our guide called a leopard cat, but which I would describe as an ocelot, sitting quietly on a forested bank. No tiger spotting though. Oh well. As India has a great number of tiger spotting opportunities, I shall continue to hope and look forward to my next excursion.