Sundarbans: World-Class Mangroves!

Sundarbans National Park protects the world's most extensive mangrove forest––3900 square miles of mangroves!––located in the delta of the combined Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers. About a third of the mangroves are in neighboring Bangladesh. Both governments are committed on paper to preserving this important coastal region, but current enforcement of the protections is ineffective.

Mangroves in Sundarbans National Park

"Mangrove" describes overall about 110 different species of shrubs and small trees, which grow in coastal waters, both saline and brackish, in the tropics and subtropics. Generally, different mangrove species have different tolerances of salinity, and are dispersed along a salinity gradient. As seawater rises with climate warming, the salt water advances farther inland along the rivers, favoring some mangrove species over others.

Mangroves are especially good at sequestering carbon dioxide––better than other forest types––and thus they help to buffer climate change. The very fine soil that accumulates around their roots acts as a sink for heavy metals, and so they clean the water and sequester contaminants as well. Oysters thrive on their roots. Mollusks, sponges, shrimp, crabs, and young fish all depend on the shelter that mangroves provide. People, too, depend on the mangroves, not only to support fisheries, but also to protect communities near the coast from the worst ravages of cyclones.

A mudpuppy at the water's edge

Fiddler Crabs, one a male brandishing his great claw

For our visit to Sundarbans with Naturalist Journeys, we were based in Sundarbans Jungle Camp, and explored the region by boat. Each morning began with hot tea, followed by an all-day boat trip in a two-deck boat, with bathroom, kitchen and a rest area below the main viewing deck. Breakfasts and lunches were served on board.

Cabin at Sundarbans Jungle Camp

The view from our boat (which didn't list like the other one!)

Both mornings began with early fog.

Fog in the Sundarbans

Each day we walked along one of the boardwalks suspended above the mangroves, and viewed critters from a tower. The Sundarbans area is famous for its people-eating Tigers, and visitors are well-protected by netting along the walkways. Entire villages are located within the national park, and those, too, are surrounded by high netting in an effort to thwart the Tigers.

Walkway through mangroves, Sundarbans National Park

At one tower, a pair of Brahminy Kites incited bedlam among the Lesser Whistling-Ducks: whenever the kites circled nearby, the ducks would dive, in a striking syncopated water dance.

Brahminy Kites circle over Lesser Whistling-Ducks

Back on the river, a good-sized Saltwater Crocodile lounged in the sun.

Saltwater Crocodile, seeming to nap

Common Water Monitors also sunned on mangrove branches along the waterways.

Common Water Monitor, sunning

On our second morning, we began by carefully searching the banks, and were rewarded when our guides found a beautiful Jungle Cat, resting on the bank with her playful kitten. The pair seemed completely unfazed by our presence. As the mother catnapped, the kitten explored nearby, returning to attack her twitching tail.

Jungle Cats, mother and kitten

A note on the wild travel to Sundarbans from Kolkata (Calcutta): we rode in a convoy of several comfortable taxis. Our very good drivers had to weave Indian-style through all manner of transport, sacred cows, and livestock using the roads––a breath-taking experience for the uninitiated. Cows slowly meandered through heavy traffic, even sleeping in the middle of the road as cars whizzed past. We learned that the penalty for a driver who kills a sacred cow is the same as for killing a person: 7 years in prison. The penalty for striking a free-ranging goat or chicken is to pay the owner of that beast, not only the cost of the animal, but the cost of five generations of that animal!

One of our drivers had grown up in Mother Teresa's orphanage, and had been her driver for 12 years, meeting many of the celebrities who sought out Mother Teresa, including Princess Diana.

Yes, Indian culture is quite different from Western culture. We were reminded anew of that fact when we arrived back at the Holiday Inn, Kolkata, in the midst of a wedding celebration. The men were dressed in pink turbans with long flowing tails, and everyone was dancing at the hotel entrance.

Wedding festivities in India

Stumpy

Papuan Frogmouth at LotusBird Lodge (Photo by Narca)

On our southward journey back down the Cape York Peninsula, we take a long side-loop from Musgrave, stopping first at LotusBird Lodge, where Sue shows us a Papuan Frogmouth in her yard and gives us great tips on where to find several very local bird species. We also ask about crocodiles.

Australia has two species of crocodiles, the Freshwater (Freshie) and the Saltwater (Saltie). Salties grow much larger, and both can occur in the same river system, although they aren't very good at sharing.

Sue responds to our question: "Oh––well, there's Stumpy. We just saw him a few days ago. He's a Freshie, and he had a run-in with a Saltie, and lost his left hand. But it's all healed over. That's why we call him Stumpy."

We follow Sue's directions to a spot along 5-Mile Creek. The drive is challenging, especially considering that this is basically flat country. Alan and Jim elect to bird near the car, while Noel and I head upstream in search of Stumpy––cautiously. By now we've heard many tales of tourists becoming lunch for a Saltie. We pass scrape marks left in the sand by sunning crocodiles. I see one six-footer drop from the far bank into a big pool and swim at the surface straight towards us, before disappearing into the depths with a rolling dive. At the very next pool, we find Stumpy.

If you were hiking here, would you see Stumpy? (Photo by Narca)

Stumpy has hauled out and is sunning. His eye is bright, and he doesn't move as we carefully walk *just a little* closer. His healed foreleg is plain to see. But it's odd that he's letting us approach.

We circle around and see that Stumpy has much bigger problems than two humans sharing his riverbank. He has obviously had another encounter with a Saltie (perhaps the one in the pool just downstream), and has lost his entire right foreleg, and has a deep gash in his hindleg. With wounds so grievous, it is hard to see how he can survive.

Stumpy, a Freshwater Crocodile (Photo by Narca)

Noel and I return to the lower pool and sit on the bank, at a very respectful distance, and wait, hoping that the Saltie will reappear. We are silent. The sleepy afternoon seems deeply peaceful. The incessant sound of cicadas lulls us. A big goanna rustles leaves on the far bank. Double-barred Finches come in to drink. Yet beneath that seeming peace hangs an ominous threat, lurking below the surface, out of sight yet palpable, a shadow cast in our minds by the hidden Saltwater Crocodile. The moment is complex and deep.