Sunderbans Smiles
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Trip Highlights
- Volunteering with the wonderful people of Bali Island in the Sunderbans
- Calcutta city tour
- Game cruises and birding tours within the unique Sunderbans eco-system
- Potential viewing of tigers in the water
- Visiting land based tiger viewing watchtowers
- Staying in a community-owned eco-lodge at ‘Sunderbans Jungle Camp’
- Evening entertainment at the rural theatre
Your "Taste of Volunteering" Project
Your Volunteer Project will be within the Sunderbans Jungle Camp on Bali Island in the Sunderbans region of north eastern India. The Camp itself is already a successful project and a sustainable source of income for the ‘poachers-turned-conservationists’, along with sustainable development of the local community and conservation of the wildlife and flora of this unique eco system.
The region was badly affected by Cyclone Aila in May 2009, and you can play a role in the recovery efforts here. The areas you can help with are:
- Help the doctors and the medical volunteers in the medical camps that have been running since May 2009, and on mobile camps on boats which can support remote villages where there is no medical centre.
- Assist with De-watering of ponds
- Reconstruct dikes and repair villages
- Check damage to wildlife and take part in rescue as and when needed
- Help local people in repairing their wells and hand pumps
- Record the usage of relief materials, give updates, monitor progress and prepare a list of beneficiaries
- Plant mangroves where the damage was severe.
Trip Summary
This 11 day trip showcases the best of Calcutta and the remarkable Sunderbans wetlands area, where former tiger poachers are now committed tiger conservationists.
You will spend four days volunteering in various areas of the camp such as maintaining and repairing the clay embankments (the longest man-made dyke in the world!), mangrove planting, construction of a proposed 10-bed hospital, and assisting in general village upkeep.
In addition, you will interact meaningfully with the local people in their daily life, and get to go on numerous bird and game adventure cruises through these remarkable wetlands. The Sunderbans is mysterious, unpredictable, vast, untamable and perhaps, the last true wild frontier in the Indian sub-continent. It is home to the world’s largest estuarine forest, a landscape dominated by great tidal creeks and waterways. A protective environment that shelters some of the most sought after birds and animals, including the rare and famous ‘swimming tigers’
Your first two days will be spent exploring the vibrant city of Calcutta with an informative local guide. You will visit many museums and monuments and immerse yourself in this city’s vibrant history. Soak up the ambience of Calcutta on the popular Heritage Walk and tram tour.
Commencing from Calcutta you will be driven through the beautiful countryside before boarding your boat for a cruise to Bali Island, home of the Sunderbans Jungle Camp.
Sunderbans are a part of the world's largest delta formed by the rivers Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna, here you will experience game cruises and birding tours through this amazing slice of the world. Your cruises will be aboard motorised boats, taking you into the home of the man eating tigers, estuarine crocodiles, sharks and snakes. The dark and foreboding attractiveness of the mangroves offer the chance to encounter myriad birds - and of course the unforgettable sight of the most secretive great cat in the world. You will also stop on land at various watchtowers for a closer look. Safety is always paramount and the watchtowers are housed within wire cages, so no strolling in tiger-land!
Your experience in Sunderbans does not end with the wildlife: you will have the opportunity to visit the village and interact with the local community. Enjoy a taste of their lifestyle, local crafts, cuisine and even be entertained in their local rural theatre. The people of Bali village are your hosts. They are the transformed conservationists and are actively involved in the camp. They will take you around the forest or on a cruise through the creeks telling you the story of tigers, birds and flora. They are the people who intimately know each and every turn of the river and every creek.
Your visit contributes a great deal in supporting the sustainable development of the local community and the conservation of the forest and the tigers.
Please note: Tiger sightings are not guaranteed in such vast, remote terrain where you have little opportunity to walk on the forested lands or mud flats. This tour is not suitable for those that consider tiger sightings ‘essential’. Even bird and other animal sightings are not continual, so patience is required during our time spent on the boat searching for birds and game. Our project and tour is extremely environmentally-sensitive and has a strong conservation and benefit sharing pledge.
* Comfort Level: Your accommodation is in a 3* hotel in Calcutta (3 nights) and in simple lodging in a guesthouse in the Sunderbans (7 nights).
For a full trip description in PDF format, click here.
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Feel free to contact us if you have any enquiries about this trip.
With one person booking, please contact us for the price of your trip.
