Sundarbans National Park

Once you have entered West Bengal, the opportunity for several kinds of expeditions opens in front of you. If you are bored of cities, sky-scrapers and malls and looking for something very natural and rustic, the vast tract of forests and salt water swamp of Sundarbans would be the perfect destination. Actually a swampy forest area forming the lower part of the Ganges Delta, the national park is spread over 160 miles, along the Bay of Bengal, from Hooghly River Estuary in India to Meghna River Estuary in Bangladesh. Sunderbans is one place where your search for something natural and exciting will end.

Located to the south of Kolkata, Sunderban National Park is one of the most distinctive bionetworks of the world. In India, the Sunderbans covers a total area of 4262 sq. kms. It is also being used as the site of Bengal tiger preservation project. It is now the place with maximum numbers of tigers in the world. The tiger project started in year 1974 and covers an area of 2585 sq. kms on the delta. The core area of 1330 sq. kms in Sunderban has been declared UNESCO world heritage site.

Named after Sundari, the dominating mangrove trees in the region, Sunderban Tiger Reserve is full of numerous wild animals. You can also get to see several crocodile-infested estuaries here. It is basically renowned for being world's largest delta. It is formed by the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna River. Spread over 54 islands, it entertains a network of estuaries, tidal rivers, and creeks confluence by various channels. It is accessible only through riverine routes. Prearranged boat tours from Port Canning take you to the forests of Sunderbans.

History
Sundarbans, lying precisely on the world's largest delta and mangrove swamp is formed by the merging of three rivers- the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and Meghnais world's largest estuarine sanctuary. The land that acted as a shelter for the refugees in 13th century is today declared as a World Heritage Center and is the most renowned place for tiger conservation under the Tiger Project.

Earlier being familiarized with the name- Sundarbans Tiger Reserve in the year 1973, it was the part of the then 24 Parganas division. The area congested with dense mangroves and swampy islands, being fitted for the tiger inhabitants and so the introduction of tiger project took place in the year 2004 as a scientific research project.

To continue the project in a more progressive way, the Save the Tiger Fund and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service generously donated funds to support the initial phase of researchand to collect data on tiger ecology. And today this tiger conservation effort in the Sunderban area is really rocking the dense masses with the exemplified glaring of royal tigers in Bengal. It is estimated that there are now 400 Royal Bengal tigers and about 30,000 spotted deer in the area. The forest is called 'Sunderban'due to the rich growth of Sundari trees.

Kolkata Excursions

The city of Kolkata offers you lots of excursion opportunities. Not only does it provides you wonderful raw hills, but also offers you opportunities to explore exotic beaches and wonderful deltas in the vicinity. Apart from exotic natural excursions, there are so many historic places in the vicinity that it would really become difficult for you, as a tourist, to choose between these options. A few of the popular tourist places near Kolkata have been listed below. Go through them and pick the ones that you want to include in this visit.