Innovative tour is what connects these 2 picturesque places. They are far apart from one another. Sunderbans is the deltaic region where Hooghly river (and several others) meets Bay of Bengal. It’s also the place where the world’s largest estuarine mangrove forest is, spread over 104 islands. Of these nearly 50 are uninhabited, being the reserve forests of Royal Bengal Tiger and estuarine crocodile, among hundreds of other species.
Sukna, on the other hand is at Dooars, the Himalayan foothills in North Bengal. Part of Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary, Sukna is the gateway to Darjeeling and has a big military base.
With the launch of attractive tour packages at these 2 places, animal lovers and jungle tourists will find it exciting enough not to give them a miss. Let me briefly narrate the tour details.
Sunderbans
A 400 km 3D/2N cruise from Kolkata’s Millenium Park to deep inside the mangrove forests is what the package from Vivada Inland Waterways Ltd is all about. Associating with West Bengal Forest Development Corporation (WBFDC), the Vivada cruise will notably touch the tiger reserves, the Sajnekhali Bird Sanctuary and the Bhagbatpur Crocodile Project.
The tour doesn’t come cheap. It costs Rs.15,000 per person for comfort rooms and Rs.20,000 per person for one of 12 luxury rooms. The thrill of course is there aplenty, what with activities like canopy walk through dense forests, trip to fisherman’s cove and a hair-raising ride through mangroves.
Talking of food, special menu of live tiger prawn, lobsters, crabs and exotic preparation of fish will be served (for more info’, refer GoodLife, TT, Kolkata, Jan 6 edition). Also see my post, Sunderbans beckons.
His Majesty in Sunderbans [Picture source]
Sukna
Sukna’s tour, on the other hand, is a single-day affair but very imaginative. It’s the brainchild of the loss-making NBSTC (North Bengal State Transport Corporation). What has a transport company got to do with tourism, you may ask.
The answer is NBSTC is waking up to fill in a crying demand of transit passengers who do not want to idle away time for better part of a day before leaving Siliguri in late evening. Many Kolkata-bound NBSTC passengers, after visiting the hills, prefer the express night super buses. And in most cases they have nothing to remain engaged to the whole day.
Sukna is not far from Siliguri. The NBSTC tour package includes elephant-ride deep inside the forest for an hour. This will start at 6 in the morning and one will have a chance of glimpsing leopard, wild elephant and deer in addition to many kinds of birds.
After the elephant ride and a sumptuous breakfast in a jungle lodge, comes the trip to Rohini Tourist Center where there is a big lake and a temple. Madhuban Park comes next and then back to the lodge in time for lunch and a little rest.
In the afternoon, tourists will be taken to Sevak Hill and Mong Pong before ending at Kalijhora beside the Teesta for a quick tea. Enjoy the sunset in the jungle before saying bye on your return to Siliguri.
The tour package costs just Rs.250 per adult and Rs.100 for elephant-ride. Cost of food is perhaps extra. All in all, this tour package – set to commence on Jan 20 – can surely become a clincher if conducted well (for details, refer ABP, Kolkata edition, Jan 10 issue).
Sukna beckons [Picture source]
Coronation Bridge over mighty Teesta [Picture source]
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