I visited the Sundarbans for an overnight 24 hours in December, 2015. It is the largest mangrove forest area in the world but, like Bangladeshi people, most of it is in Bangladesh so you only get to see a fraction of it on Indian territory.
Our starting point was a three hour drive from Kolkata over a road surface worthy of being cast as the before model close up in moisturiser advertisements. The multitude of potholes on a relatively quiet highway through rural India might also explain the lack of toilets. A pre-booked houseboat was waiting for our entire group at the port, which we could reach only by wading our way through the waves of people crashing against the shore.
The population density reduced significantly once we were in the water. In a happy coincidence, we spent most of the period between two lunches on the boat, hopping off only for a walk around a nearby village and going through an unusually informative museum. A part of me is now looking forward to a rise in sea levels.
You should consider going if your definition of a holiday includes playing indoor games or vacantly looking into space but you don't want to do it in your house because that sounds like any another weekend. Driven by that criteria, and armed with the knowledge that tiger sightings are extremely rare ( birds are abundant, though ) and that mangrove is not a portmanteau of mango and grove, your retreat should be most enjoyable.
I was with family and not being the Whistler sorts, I spared my relatives the ignominy of being the muse of my ongoing, self-taught photography training. The choices that remained then were the boats and the water. Water has its qualities, sustaining life, pH 7, etc., but the dirty-green, more or less standing sorts can only capture your interest for two (horizon, reflection of something), maybe three (stuff floating in it, which includes boats) kinds of pictures. You soon find yourself checking WhatsApp, temporarily suppressing the knowledge that all you receive are good morning messages. It's too late in the day for that, and all the senders are on the same boat as you anyway.
Our starting point was a three hour drive from Kolkata over a road surface worthy of being cast as the before model close up in moisturiser advertisements. The multitude of potholes on a relatively quiet highway through rural India might also explain the lack of toilets. A pre-booked houseboat was waiting for our entire group at the port, which we could reach only by wading our way through the waves of people crashing against the shore.
The population density reduced significantly once we were in the water. In a happy coincidence, we spent most of the period between two lunches on the boat, hopping off only for a walk around a nearby village and going through an unusually informative museum. A part of me is now looking forward to a rise in sea levels.
You should consider going if your definition of a holiday includes playing indoor games or vacantly looking into space but you don't want to do it in your house because that sounds like any another weekend. Driven by that criteria, and armed with the knowledge that tiger sightings are extremely rare ( birds are abundant, though ) and that mangrove is not a portmanteau of mango and grove, your retreat should be most enjoyable.
Boats
I was with family and not being the Whistler sorts, I spared my relatives the ignominy of being the muse of my ongoing, self-taught photography training. The choices that remained then were the boats and the water. Water has its qualities, sustaining life, pH 7, etc., but the dirty-green, more or less standing sorts can only capture your interest for two (horizon, reflection of something), maybe three (stuff floating in it, which includes boats) kinds of pictures. You soon find yourself checking WhatsApp, temporarily suppressing the knowledge that all you receive are good morning messages. It's too late in the day for that, and all the senders are on the same boat as you anyway.
 |
| Ferry cattle class - Long boarding queues. Very little foot space. No arm rests. Choice of hair in your mouth or armpits around your nose. But then, on the bright side, no hidden charges or sea port development fees. |
