Mangrove - Man Eaters - and a Sundarban Package Tour

Sundarban, a beautifully located natural biosphere reserve protecting numerous wildlife in an open environment, is where the man meets the wild. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is situated both in India and Bangladesh and surrounded by 3 major rivers, the Ganga, Meghna, and the Brahmaputra. Through a Sundarban Package Tour you can avail a perfect weekend gateway from the hurly-burly city of Kolkata to the lap of lush green nature at an affordable price. The forest of Sunderban has varieties of birds, and animals like hog deer, monkeys, barking deer, swamp deer, leopards, wild cats, venomous snakes, porcupines, Royal Bengal Tiger, and crocodiles all waiting to give a peek to the tourists. Over the recent past, Sunderban survived the maximum effects from cyclones like Amphan, Bulbul, Aila, and Sider which made this region weak and vulnerable while leaving a good impact on every individual for the next few years.

SUNDARBAN – THE HOME OF ROYAL BENGAL TIGER When we think about the Royal Bengal Tiger, the first thing that comes to our mind is Sunderban, and why not? It is their home. Apart from the World's biggest mangrove forest, Sunderban shelters nearly 96 tigers based on the year 2020 survey. While on Sundarban Tour, there are high chances to come across a Royal Bengal Tiger drinking water from the river or swimming across the streams, but one has to be lucky enough to spot it. This burning bright yellow to a reddish animal with black stripes and glowing eyes is once in a lifetime to spot without the bars in the Sunderban Tiger Reserve, and since 2016 this place has seen growth in the number of tiger count. In the recent past, several tigers lost their life due to illegal poaching and smuggling of body parts across the globe, and if this continues, it might result in the extinction of this animal. The forest of Sunderban is quite dangerous as the Royal Bengal Tiger remains the King of this forest, so during the visit, it's advised not to visit the jungle without a guide and to remain in the allotted zone as this ferocious animal loves being preyed on human flesh.

HOW MAMY TIGERS ARE THERE IN SUNDARBAN? To The Sundarban is divided in to two parts: Part 1 - The Sundarban Tiger Reserve comprising the South 24 Pgs District in the Indian State of West Bengal.

Part 2 - The Sundarban of Bangladesh. Out of total area, Bangladesh alone covers almost 60% of Sundarban Reserve Forest.

The Indian Part of Sundarban is spreading over 2,585 sq km, which includes the Sundarban Tiger Reserve and the (South) Division of 24 Parganas. As per data of the West Bengal Forest Department, there are almost 96 tiger right now in Sundarban (West Bengal Part) as per recent tiger census.

Tiger census is the trapping of tigers using a camera that is installed in the jungle to capture the movement of the wildlife, and also to get an exact figure of the big cats residing in that biosphere. Based on the current information, 1164 cameras are already being installed in the forest of Sunderban at 582 locations to keep track.

The cameras take pictures every 5 – 10 seconds and using those pictures the population of the Royal Bengal Tiger in Sundarban will be determined by analyzing the unique stripes that each tiger carries, same as the figure print of a human. As per West Bengal Forest Department, the tiger count has increased a few in numbers from the 2018 -19 report, that was 88, and 2019 – 2020 was 96 big cats with 11 cubs, which is said to be the highest jump in numbers after many years.

ARE TIGERS OF SUNDARBAN MAN EATERS? The tigers found in Sundarban are small in size than others found in different parts and tiger reserve in India, but they are extremely powerful and fierce. They are the silent predator and can kill their prey with just one blow with their paw or bite. Apart from Sundarban National Park, Tigers are also found in following National Park and Tiger Reserve in India.

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Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve - Uttarakhand Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve - Madhya Pradesh Nagarjunsagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve - Andhra Pradesh Sariska National Park - Rajasthan Periyar Tiger Reserve - Kerala Bandipur Tiger Reserve - Karnataka Kanha Tiger Reserve - Madhya Pradesh Manas National Park - Assam Kaziranga National Park - Assam

In general, tigers lives alone in the dense forest of mangrove in Sundarban and prefer to avoid human contact. In spite of that there are many cases where human have became prey of tigers in different time of the year. No one exactly knows the reason why the Tigers in Sundarban are infamous as man eaters. Scientists, biologists have tried to figure out some reason behind it and the result is as follows:

The Salinity of Water: Due coastal region and proximity of sea, tides happen two times daily in the area making most of the water sources salty. Hence fresh water to drink is very rare where as tigers prefer fresh water only. So, they often visit the locality to quench their thirst. This is one of the reasons for human-tiger conflict in Sundarban.

Tidal Variation: By natural habit, big cats like tiger, mark their territory with urine. But due to twice tide a day, these marks are generally disappears. So to keep on their dominance, tigers frequently visit vicinity to village leaving the core area hence becomes vulnerable for human.

Honey Collectors Activity: Honey Collectors in Sundarban are known as Mouli in local language. Collecting honey is the one of the main occupation for the inhabitants of Sundarban. But this is very dangerous job and often threatens their life. To collect honey, which is derived from the nectar of wild flowers of mangroves, honey collectors need to penetrate deep inside forest on foot. Thus they become vulnerable for tiger attack. During collecting honey, often they got attack from behind. The tiger of Sundarban is so powerful that with a single blow of their paw, they can kill human and drag them deep inside forest with blink of an eye. As the jungle is very

dense, so running after such incident is impossible hence search and rescue operation often take several days. In many occasion no trace of the victim is found and this is one of the notable reason for conflict between men vs. men eaters.

Pass on Behavior: If any tigress becomes man eaters, she feeds her cub human flesh too. Thus the cubs become habituate with this kind of food habit and when grown up, become man-eaters too. For tiger/tigress hunting and killing down a human is easier than an animal in open wild. In this way a habit goes on by generations and the tiger became man eater.

Developed a taste of human flesh: Frequent cyclone affects human life as well as wild inhabitants too in Sundarban. Since decades Sundarban has sustained many powerful cyclones like:

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Super Cyclone Sidr - 2007 Severe Cyclonic Storm Aila - 2009 Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Fani - 2019 Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Bulbul - 2019 Super Cyclone Amphan - May 20, 2020 Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Yaas - 2021

Due to this devastating cyclone, many human in Sundarban lost their life and washed away by the river. Often tiger’s scavenge on these dead bodies and grow a habit for human flesh. Thus the tigers look for human flesh often and became a human hunter.

Shortage of Natural Prey: Tigers in Sundarban are in good no, but they have lack of natural prey like chital deer, wild boar, monkeys etc. Often due to natural calamities, the no of prey become inaccessible and tigers are forced to turn upon easy prey like human. Thus, human and tigers conflict become inevitable.

Harsh Weather Condition: Due to twice tide a day and natural calamities, the area become shallow and slippery hence searching and hunting down a prey become difficult for tigers. So they often look for soft target like human searching for honey or fishing in the shallow water. Thus often this animal becomes a notorious Man Eater in Sundarban.

Tigers Health: In many cases it has been found that tiger/tigress become a man eater when they get physically unfit to hunt. It has been observed that injured, old and tiger with missing teeth or claws has become man eaters.

Close Encounter: In core jungle if any human encounters with tiger, then as a defensive measures often tiger kills human being and eat away.

These are the causes why human are constantly becoming prey for tigers. In spite of the no of tigers are decreasing day by day. Various steps from government are being taken to protect and preserve this beautiful creature on Earth. If still we are not conscious, we will see the extinction of this beautiful animal within next coming years. So be a responsible human being and raise your voice to protect the wild habitats of our mother nature. NatureWings welcome every nature lover and travel enthusiast for a Sundarban Package Tour at least once in life and behold the beautiful king of the jungle – The Sundarban.