Sunderbans

 Sunderbans the Natural Wonder

The Sunderbans is the largest mangrove forest of the world. A lagre no of natural animals include the Bengal Tigers, snake, different kinds of alligator and a large no of birds live in the forest. The Sunderbans is surrounded by many river. The Sunderbans is the largest honey hunting place in the world. a large number of honey hunters gathered in the forest area every year to gather honey.

Among the tigers Cheetal, Wild Boar, Rhesus are some of the main species. Animals like crabs and fishes are eaten by Sunderbans tigers.

Sunderbans Mangrove is the safe house of  globally threatened species like Royal Bengal Tiger and Fishing Cats are having effective protection in here.

The Sunderbans was originally measured (about 200 years ago) to be of about 16,700 sq km. Now it has dwindled to about 1/3 of the original size. Because of the partition of India, Bangladesh received about 2/3 of the forest; the rest is on the Indian side.

It is  divided by 55 compartments and 9 blocks. The Sundarbans was declared as a Reserve Forest in 1875. About 32,400 hectares of the Sunderbans have been declared as 3 wildlife sanctuaries, and came under the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999.

In Bangla Ban means forest and and in that sense, Sunderbans name comes from the famous tree of the forest, Sundori tree. It is aslo called the forest of Samudra (sea).

Due to soil erosion in the Himalayas, the Sunderbans is shaped in the present form. The process was accelerated by tides from the sea face, and the process is continuing still!!

Soils of the Sunderbans  differ from the other inner land soils in which, they are subjected to the effects of salinity and water logging, in which, vegetation is naturally effected.

The temperatures in the Sunderbans are almost same than those of the adjacent land areas. The average  maximum and minimum temperatures vary between 32º and 21ºC. High temperatures occur from March to June and low in December and January.

Annual rainfall in the Sunderbans is in the range of 1620-2000 mm, and rainfall increases from west to the east. Mainly rainfall occurs during the monsoon and from May to October.

The vegetation of  Sunderbans is mainly of mangrove type and a variety of plants including trees, grasses, shrubs, Liana etc. Sundori, Goran, Gewa, Bain, Kewra, Gol-pata, Dhundul, Passur, Ora, Bain are some of the major trees of the mangrove forest.

In the forest there are about 50 species of mammals, about 320 species of migratory birds, about 50 species of verious kinds of reptiles, 8 species of amphibians, and about 400 species of fish. Some major animals of the forest are, Spotted deer, the famous Royal Bengal Tiger, Barking deer, Jungle cat,  Rhesus macaque, Leopard cat, Otter etc. About 50 species of birds are available in the mangrove forest. Like egrets, bitterns, herons, sandpipers, curlew, storks etc. 50 species of reptiles are also available in the forest. And among them, Russell's Viper, King Cobra, Rock Python, Banded Krait etc are available.

8 species of amphibians have been reported from the Mangrove Forest. Among them, Skipper frog, Tree fro, Cricket frog, The green frog etc are the main one.

Sunderbans is also rich with various and huge species of fishes also. About 400 species of various kinds fishes are available in  here. Among them, 20 species of shrimps, 8 species of lobsters, 7 species of crab, 6 species of pelecypods, several species of gastropods are the main species.

 

The main importance of The Sunderbans Lays in the protective nature of the forest. It protects the coast lines, the coastal lands from the various natural disasters.The Sunderbans is also important in the site of economical value. The raw material for the former is gewa and for the latter sundari which are used in making match factories and boat building. The forest is a good source of fuel, tannins, thatching, wooden articles, medicinal plants, and fodder. The forest is also a major source of honey and bee wax. The major honey plants are  Aegiceras corniculatum, Ceriops decandra, Nipa species, Derris species, and Hibiscus tiliaceous etc. 

The most visible sites in the forest area are, Tiger Point, Dublar Char, Katka, Hiron Point etc. For landscape and wildlife, Katka is well known. A forest rest house and observation tower is presented in here. Hiron point is also included with a  forest rest house and observation tower. Dublar Char is an island with a beautiful beach.One of the major attraction of the island is the fishing activities that take place every year between mid-October and mid-February. 

Very few people live around the forest side. They include the honey collector (mouals), golpata collectors (bawalis), woodcutters etc. Some people, especially the nomads live on the boats.

The mangrove of the Sunderbans is dependent on natural regeneration for the cause of it's existence.The greater part of the forest, seedling recruitment was sufficient for replacement of the harvested trees. Average number of seedlings appearing per year was about 27,750/ha although recruitment densities varied considerably among different parts of the forests. 

Salinity of the area depends upon the increasing salinity rate of the forest area. Salinity of the sea water also make influence of the salinity rate of the forest area.