The Sunderbans, is covering over an area of 1,000,000 hectares, is the world's
largest delta, formed by the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghana rivers. The name
is a combination of two words ?SUNDAR? and ?BAN?.?SUNDAR? means?BEAUTIFUL? and
?BAN? means ?FOREST?.The region has extensive mangrove forests and the contours
are in a constant state of flux, caused by the monsoon flooding each year. Roughly
a third of the delta is water, consisting of rivers, channels and tidal creeks
up to 5 kilometers wide. The Sunderbans falls both within the India and Bangladesh,
the latter having the larger share of the delta. On the Indian side there is
a national park overlooking the Bay of Bengal.
Sundarbans is home to many different species of birds, mammals, insects, reptiles and fishes. Over 120 species of fish and over 260 species of birds have been recorded in the Sundarbans. The Gangetic River Dolphin (Platanista gangeticus) is common in the rivers. No less than 50 species of reptiles and eight species of amphibians are known to occur. The Sundarbans now support the only population of the Estuarine, or Salt-Water Crocodile (Crocodylus parasus) in Bangladesh, and that population is estimated at less than two hundred individuals.
Here land and water meet in many novel fashions, Wildlife presents many a spectacle. No wonder, you may come across a Royal Bengal Tiger swimming across the streams or the crocodiles basking on the river banks. With the approach of the evening herds of deer make for the darking glades where boisterous monkeys shower Keora leaves from above for sumptuous meal for the former. For the botanist, the lover of nature, the poet and the painter this land provides a variety of wonder for which they all crave. |