In the mangrove swamps of Bangladesh Mikey Leung tracks down a majestic predator
In Bangladesh, rumour has it that Royal Bengal tigers have acquired a taste for human flesh. Cyclones are to blame, so the story goes; the terrible storms sweep across the Bay of Bengal and send dozens of fishermen to a watery grave, their bodies later washing up on the region’s beaches where they become an easy and habit-inducing meal for tigers.
Insecure in this knowledge, I set off for the Bangladeshi Sundarbans, the home of the world’s largest littoral mangrove forest and a place where the Royal Bengal tiger is still king.
Bangladesh’s location is unique and precarious. It is here the Himalayas crumble into the sea; tons of silt flowing down the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers (known as the Padma and Jamuna rivers respectively in Bangladesh) into what is essentially a giant flood plain. At the Sundarbans, these two mighty rivers come to a muddy end in the Bay of Bengal. As the tide rises, a flow of seawater pushes back against the fresh water, making the salinity levels both extraordinarily variable and inhospitable for many types of plant and animal life.
The result is the unique environment and ecology of the Sundarbans. Only specialist species can survive here and the mangrove forest takes the prize as the most successful. The remainder of the area also benefits from its success: the mangroves sustaining an unique biodiversity. Two thirds of the forest belongs to Bangladesh and it was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1997.
‘Bangladesh depends on the Sundarbans for a lot of things – not just tourism,’ says my Swedish-born guide, Elisabeth Fahrni Mansur, who now calls Bangladesh home while leading trips with Guide Tours. ‘It’s the nation’s only barrier against natural calamities that come from the water. It offers a measure of protection from cyclones, or tidal surges, for instance. The whole area acts as a natural sponge for this flat country. It’s one of the only big forests that Bangladesh has.’
The Sundarbans is only accessible by boat from the port at Khulna. After a relaxing day and evening spent cruising into the forests, we leave at first light and glide down misty, muddy channels in a small boat. An expectant quiet falls over us as we stare into the thick mangroves and the jungle chorus merges with the beeping and whirring of digital cameras.
Unfortunately, the only tiger species any of us sees that day is of the Calvin and Hobbes variety – the boat crew has taped one of the comic strips to the inside of the lavatory door. Aptly, this particular episode has the duo tucked up in bed, with Calvin asking the big question of why humans were put on Earth. In the third panel, Hobbes answers ‘Tiger food’ and then promptly rolls over to sleep.
Mansur, however, is keen to dispose of any threatening tiger fantasies I might be harbouring. In nearly four years of guiding, she says she has seen tigers just a dozen times. The truth is that your likelihood of seeing a tiger in the wild is extremely low – but if you were to encounter one face-to-whisker in the Sundarbans you might find out that the man-eating myths might not be so mythical after all.
‘We prefer to call it human-tiger conflict,’ says Mansur. ‘There is lots of research happening at the moment that aims to reduce this. There are also a range of theories why some tigers turn into man-eaters. Some have theorised that the increased salinity of the Sundarbans has an effect on the tigers’ brains, making them go crazy. Perhaps there is simply not enough prey, or perhaps too many people venture into the tigers’ habitat. There is a lot of data available, but it has yet to be evaluated properly.’
Tiger sightings, or lack thereof, notwithstanding, the Sundarbans are remarkably diverse. As we cruise through the green water we see white egrets, with their long, swan-like necks, ambling through the mud looking just like women in high heels teetering amid puddles on a rainy day. Brightly coloured kingfishers take wing when we steer too close only to resume their loitering from a safe distance. Wide-winged kites preside over their mangrove playground far above our heads.
The most numerous species, however, is the humble mudhopper, a fish specially adapted to life on land, for whom the variable salinity of the man-grove mud banks is a prerequisite for existence. The finger-length creature breathes on land by extracting oxygen from water held in its mouth and is known to have complex courtship and territorial behaviour.
When you have spent the previous day in the heaving Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, the serenity and natural beauty of the Sundarbans can come as something of a shock. Over the coming days forest walks bring us into open fields where white-spotted deer (chitals) bound away as soon as they get wind of us. Every night we sleep on the upper boat deck, under a canopy of shooting stars, listening to the sound of the jungle – ears straining for sounds of tigers.
Finally, our ambition is achieved. One morning, as the mist clears and birds circle we see a Royal Bengal tigress and her three cubs down by the water’s edge. They know they are being watched, but they have no intention of abandoning their fresh kill on account of prying eyes. They move with such incredible grace and agility. The glorious stripe patterns of their bodies folding and bending as they walk and their gaping post-meal yawns showing off incredible sets of canine teeth.
Unfortunately, this rare sighting is only on a laptop computer screen, courtesy of a DVD Mansur has brought with her. This is part of the problem of tiger research, she adds as we watch; even experienced scientists struggle to get to grips with the intimate details of the animals’ lives.
‘The reason that tiger research is so important is not just because of the charismatic nature of the animals themselves,’ she adds. ‘If you study their needs and requirements, and you can develop management plans to protect them, you are automatically protecting their prey and their habitat.’
Already there is work being done in conjunction with the Bangladesh forest department, but for a nation mired in poverty and threatened by climate change, natural disasters and corruption, conservation standards are still lacking. The Sundarbans, for all its irreplaceable biodiversity, remains an important source of timber and fish and is classified as a ‘reserved forest’ and not a national park. More funding and the greater development of the forest department will lead to the maintenance of a successful tiger habitat and a reduction in human-tiger conflicts. For now, Mansur argues, responsible tourism is the key: cutting off access to the forest would put the animals in danger of poaching. For now, overfishing and shrimp farming, rather than tiger attacks, are the biggest potential dangers facing the Sundarbans.
IN THE TIGER’S PAW PRINTS
Visitors to the Sundarbans are recommended to join guided (and guarded) tours – banditry remains a problem in the region. Organised tours (including an armed guard) also have the added benefit of managing tourist impact on what is an ecologically sensitive area.
USEFUL LINKS
Independent travel is not easily organised in Bangladesh. Guide Tours (guidetours.com) and Bengal Tours (bengaltours. com) are two established tour operators.
TIGER FACTS AND FIGURES
In the world there is only one tiger species, which has eight subspecies. Three of the eight are already extinct.
THEORY OF EVOLUTION
Tigers first evolved in east Asia, and spread around the rest of the continent as the large deer and cattle species upon which they preyed dispersed. The number of tigers in the Sundarbans remains unknown. There are an estimated 5,000-7,000 wild tigers still left in the world, although their populations are small and are vulnerable to poaching, disease and general habitat disturbance.
TIGERS – KEEP OUT
The tiger is an extremely territorial creature. Males will try to incorporate as many females as possible within their territory, while female territories depend more on the availability of prey. Both sexes will spray trees and leave scrapes on the ground as visual and olfactory markers.
MAN-EATERS
Tigers are not by their nature inclined to view people as a prey species. There is a clear distinction between tigers that kill humans out of accident or defence and man-eaters that actively seek out people. The exact reason why a tiger becomes a man-eater has not been established, but relates to human and tiger populations coming into conflict. www.sundarbanstigerproject.info
WHERE TO STAY
PAN PACIFIC SONARGAON HOTEL
107 Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue Dhaka Tel: (+880) 2 8111 005 www.panpacific.com
DHAKA SHERATON HOTEL
1 Minto Road PO Box 504 Dhaka Tel: (+880) 2 8653 636 www.starwoodhotels.com
RADISSON WATER
GARDEN HOTEL
Airport Road Dhaka Cantonment Dhaka Tel: (+880) 2 8754 505 www.radisson.com/dhakabn
HOW TO GET THERE
Entry to Bangladesh is via the capital, Dhaka, or overland from Calcutta via the Indian border crossing at Benapole. GMG Airlines provides daily flights from Dhaka to Jessore, one hour away from Khulna and the best place to start a trip into the heart of the Sundarbans. www.gmgairlines.com
