The post title pretty much sums up the lowlights and the highlight of our three-day trip to the mangroves of the Sundarbans
. The real draw of that nature reserve is the royal Bengal tiger, who stalks the deer and other animals of the rivers, canals, islands and mudflats where the myriad mouths of the Ganges meet the Bay of Bengal.

Even if we weren’t among the lucky few to see a tiger, we had alovely couple of days drifting through the jungle on the proud ship Elmar (that’s an anglo-indianisation of the spanish el mar, meaning the sea). And we, that’s Karsten and Michael from England, Marthe from Norway and myself. We all showed up at the office of Backpackers early in the morning and headed out of town in a minibus.
Along the way we passed the smelly tanneries and Kolkata’s massive garbage mountain, literally a veritable mountain of the city’s trash, and also the home and workplace of thousands who sort through the rubbidh trying to find anything worth salvaging or recycling
. And it was somwhere along here that we had out first unscheduled stop as the rear tire of the minibus was punctured. Karsten at one point asked out loud what would happen if one more tire gave up the game. The answer came not much later when we found aourselvces stranded and then shortly transferred to another vehicle that came to our rescue

.

The journey continued and we soon found ourselves at a jetyy where overloaded ferries shuttled back and forth between the islands and where our (first) boat awaited. After about an hour of cruising we reached the guest house where we’d be staying and it duly started to rain. Sitting out the shower we got ready to walk the makeshift mud jetty to dry land. For me that walk started with sinking knee-deep into the very mud the jetty was made of and then being led by the hand to safety.
Luckliy it was from another jetty – made from bricks and stepping stones – that we got into a smaller boat to get deeper into the narrow canals to look for birds, plus finding a snake an d a plethora of frogs along the way.

A dinner and a night on some very hard beds later we were ready for the real tour. A visit to the ranger’s office to sort out our permits and watch the displays and were on our way. In the stifling heat, the breeze that came across the deck every now and then was very welcome as we sat watching eagerly for the elusive big cat. As already mentioned, it would remain hidden, but other animals showed themselves. Deer – who come to the Sundarbans in captivity, get acclimatised to the salty environment only to be set free as tiger food – more crabs and birds, a couple of large water monitor lizards, and towards the end of the day a crocodile, half sunk in the mud

. Another rarity, this would be our Sundarban trophy.

In the evening, we shared the boat, our meal and the entertainment with a group of Germans who were heading for the mangroves the next morning.
As we were sweating our way back to Kolkata, we got a phone call: the Germans had just seen a tiger swim across the canal
. Bastards!