Bird Sanctuaries in West Bengal

Sunderbans National Park

Location: Piyali in West Bengal, India
Nearest Accessibility: Gosaba, about 50 Kms
Main Attractions: Bengal Tiger, Ridley Sea Turtle
Total Area: About 1330.10 Sq Kms
Best Time to Visit: September to May

Sundarbans National Park is located in World's largest Delta formed by the confluence of the rivers Ganga, Brahmaputra and Meghana. The Sundarbans Wildlife Sanctuary is the world's largest estuarine sanctuary. The Sundarbans is not only a National Park but also a tiger reserve, a World Heritage site and a Biosphere reserve. The name Sundarban has been derived from the Sundari trees that are found in abundance in the Sundarbans National Park. Sundarbans is home to the Royal Bengal tigers along with a sizeable population of spotted deer, wild pigs, monkeys, kingfishers, herons and eagles. The Sundarbans is also known for the Ridley Sea Turtles.

Islands such as Goasaba, Sandeshkali and Basanti form the northern boundary of the Sundarbans whereas on the south lies the Bay of Bengal; the Matla and Bidya Rivers form the eastern boundary and the to the west side of the Sunderbans National Park is the international boundary of Bangladesh.

Flora in Sundarbans National Park
The Sundarbans National Park has a wide variety of plant life too. Inside the Sundarbans there are mangrove scrub, salt water mixed forest, littoral forest, brackish water forest and swamp forest. The large floral population in Sundarbans includes trees like Dhundal, Genwa, Garjan, Passur and Kankara. Besides the above-mentioned trees, the tall and wide Goran trees cover a large part of the Sundarbans. It is interesting to note that twenty-six of the fifty broad mangrove types found in the world thrive in the Sunderbans National Park.

Wildlife in Sundarbans National Park
The Sundarbans National Park is home to a large number of Royal Bengal tigers and also abounds in olive Ridley turtles, salt water crocodiles, Gangetic dolphins, spotted deer, fishing cats, wild boars, monitor lizards, otters, rhesus macaques, snakes, lobsters, numerous varieties of fishes, shrimps, crabs, worms and a host of avian life such as kingfishers, herons, woodpeckers, storks, Brahmin ducks, ibises, arghilahs, water fowl, egrets etc.

More Attractions in Sundarbans

Sajnakhali Sanctuary
The Sajnakhali sanctuary, known for its rich bird population, is considered a part of the Sunderbans National Park. Some of the bird species in Sajnakhali sanctuary are Kingfisher, Sea Eagle, Plovers, Lap-Wings, Whimbrels, Curfews, occasional Pelican and Sandpipers.

Bhagabatpur
Bhagabatpur is home to a hatchery of the largest estuarine crocodiles in the world.

Piyali
Known as the gateway to Sundarbans, Piyali is about 72 kms from Kolkata by road and is close to Sajnekhali, Netidhopani and Sudhanyakhali by waterways. The Piyali River flows through the green paddy fields and joins river Matla.

How to Reach the Sundarbans National Park

By Air
The nearest airport from Sundarbans is Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal. Kolkata is about 112 km from Sundarbans.

By Rail/Train
Canning is nearest railhead, which is about 48 km from Sundarbans.

By Road
You can reach Sundarbans by road also. You can get buses from Kolkata for Namkhana (105-kms), Raidighi (76-kms), Sonakhali (100-kms), Najat (92-kms) and Canning (64-kms). All the above mentioned places are near the Sunderbans and have easy access to waterways.

By Water
You can easily get to Sundarbans on cruises from places/areas such as Namkhana, Bhagabatpur, Sagar Island -Jambudwip; Sajnekhali - Sudhanyakhali-Buridabri- Netidhopan-Holiday Island; Sonakhali - Gosaba and Raidighi - Kalas.


Sajnekhali Bird Sanctuary


A Teeming hermnry hermnry on the banks of the immensely wide rivers Matla and Gumdiup to 11 kms to 12 kms in places. The brid sanctuary is an prnithologists. paradise. It is then that besides the residents, waters like plovers, Lap-wings, curlews whimberls. sandpipers, Egrets, Lesser, Adjutants, King fishers, curmornts, Brahiming kites tee.

We alighted from our bus at Sonakhali and were immediately trundled off in a ‘bhotbhoti’-rickshaw. On our way to Sajnekhali, the beautiful mangrove vegetation left us spellbound. It was high tide at that time and many trees were submerged in the salty waters. There were islands on both sides. We went past Gosaba. Some showed signs of human habitat, while some were infested with dense forests.

We arrived at our resort at Sajnekhali after about two hours. For sightseeing, we were taken to Sajnekhali Wildlife Sanctuary, which covered an area of 36240 sq kms, and is an integral part of the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve. Here, we had our first meeting with some of man’s ancestor in the wild – Rhesus Macaque (macaca mulatta)

The Sajnekhali Sanctuary is adjacent to the Sunderban Tiger Reserve and is considered a part of the Sunderbans ecosystem. It lies on the confluence of Matla and Gumdi rivers within the buffer zone and spreads across an area of 885 sq km.

With a rich and varied avian population, the Sajnekhali Sanctuary provides a visual treat for your eyes. The most noteworthy among the feathered flock are spotted billed pelican, cotton teal, herring gull, Caspian tern, grey heron, large egret, night heron, open-billed stork, white ibis, common kingfisher, brahminy kite and paradise flycatcher. A rare winter migrant, the Asian dowitcher can also be found here.

The trained eye will be able to spot several birds of prey like the osprey, Pallas’s fish eagle white-bellied sea eagle, grey-headed fishing eagle, peregrine falcon, Oriental hobby, northern eagle owl and brown fish owl. Photographers, keep your cameras handy to shoot the spectacular sight of colorful birds in flight. Several colorful species of Kingfisher, Plovers, White Bellied Sea Eagle, Sandpipers, Whimbrels, Lapwings and Curfews can be seen here.

Apart from a heronry, you can also visit the Visitors' Centre where you can see a crocodile enclosure, a shark pond, a turtle hatchery and a Mangrove Interpretation Centre.
Best Season :The best time to be in wildlife belts of the region is September-March. Although the luxury tours to the Sunderbans carry on the year round, and the monsoon holds its own magic over tourists on the expanse of the Sunderbans, September-March is the most likely time for tiger-sighting.

The land that is inhabited by Royal Bengal Tigers is not far from Kolkata. You can explore unknown wildlife of Sunderbans that harbour jungle cats, fishing cats, Axis deer, wild boar, Rhesus monkeys, mongooses and the largest estuarine crocodiles in the world.