The Arena of the Man-Eating Tigers

In an attempt to leave the urban traffic of Calcutta behind before heading south to Puri I decided to visit the Sundarbuns Tiger Reserve, a national park about two hours east of Calcutta. I had never been to a national park in India before and the thought of having a chance to maybe glimpse a tiger intrigued me. The truth is the that the chance of actually encountering a tiger are quite slim but seeing the other wildlife in the biggest mangrove forest in the world felt like it would be a good change of pace.

Sundarbuns is rumored to be home of the only man eating tigers in the world and they kill a number of local fisherman of the nearby villages each year. There has been a lot of research done on the tigers in the area and there are theories about why the tigers of this region actually seek out humans as prey while tigers in the other areas of India are not inclined to eat humans. The lack of other food sources is likely one facet of the equation (and from lack of wildlife this theory seems plausible) along with a theory that the salt water that they drink in the mangroves irritates the tigers and makes them more fierce. Lucky was not on my side as I did not come face to face with a tiger on this trip.

In the end, the three days at the Sundarbuns Tiger Camp were a disappointment. Along with not getting to see tigers there really wasn’t a lot of wildlife on display. Perhaps I am jaded from the time I spent in Africa but a couple of crocodiles on the distant shores, a smattering of rhesus macaque monkeys and a few birds just didn’t feel like a wildlife adventure to me. Not to mention that by the end of this trip my cold had morphed into a nasty sinus infection…this was no fun but a few antibiotics in Calcutta cleared it right up.

The best part about the entire experience was visiting the local village one afternoon that is set among rice paddies that were in full bloom. There are few things more beautiful to me then the intense green of a rice paddy in full bloom as it slowly dances in the breeze. It was also nice to be out relaxing on the lazy boat rides through the rivers that divided the mangroves. While Sundarbuns did not rise to my expectations it was a good change of pace.