Our “cottage” was actually rather cozy. The bed was comfy, they provided a handy kit of toiletries, and there was a little sitting area on the porch, surrounded by lots of tropical foliage. There was no hot running water as promised, though, which I was not happy about (we had to call reception to have someone bring it in a bucket). There was also a creature living above the woven wicker ceiling, which wasn’t so bad except when it felt the need to start a fuss at 5:30AM.
But amidst all the traveling that had to be done to actually get to the tiger reserve, there wasn’t a whole lot of time to actually visit the reserve. On the first day, we were taken on a “luxury” boat to the Mangrove Interpretation Centre, where we stood on a watchtower for all of about ten minutes, looking at wild hogs (see photo below) and spotted deer from a distance. The centre also had a crocodile hatchery, with apparently one crocodile that wasn’t to be seen, as well as a hell of a lot of garbage and a crumbling building that seemed to house nothing at all.
The next day, we took a “thrilling” boat ride through the creeks of the mangrove forest. I have to admit that while it was fun, it wasn’t my idea of thrilling. I kind of expected to be traveling down tiny creeks in a little row boat, instead of a large motor-powered boat through narrow rivers. Danny enjoyed the bird-watching, though, and we did see monitor lizards, macaques, and another spotted deer. We didn’t actually see any tigers. By the Forest Department’s count, there are something like 280 Bengal tigers in the Sunderbans. It’s entirely possible that there had been a tiger or two, hiding in the dense mangrove forest, and that we just couldn’t see them.
The Tiger Camp provided “complimentary” meals, which they claimed would “leave a lingering taste behind, making you crave for more.” The food was good, but it wasn’t as good as all that. Actually, dinner was a disappointment, and breakfast was just bad. Dinner was Indian-Chinese food, which was pretty bland, and breakfast, served on the boat, consisted of cold baked beans, over-boiled eggs, and bread that had little bugs baked into it (ew). Lunches, though, were Indian and another thing entirely. I loved the food for lunch and wished they would have just stuck with serving local dishes. We had dal, rice, and fish curry, which was tasty but involved too much work as the fish was full of tiny bones. Our first lunch included a really nice okra curry, while on the second day, they served little grilled eggplants, which were really good – and I normally don’t like eggplant. The best part was the tomato chutney, which was sweet, gingery, and highly addictive. I’m going to figure out how to replicate the recipe when I get home.
Still, I was disappointed by the lack of traditional Bengali dishes and by the lack of local seafood. Being that we were on the Bay of Bengal, I thought they would serve prawns at least once. The Tiger Camp was definitely making a killing by charging us a ton of money for not a whole lot of return. Clearly, they had even gone for the cheaper, boney fish, rather than spend the money on boneless filets or shellfish.
Overall, it was an enjoyable trip and a nice break from hectic Kolkata. Even though it obviously would have cost more, I wish the two-night/three-day option had been available (there wasn’t going to be one until the weekend, and we were flying out on Monday). Considering the five-hour trip to get out there in the first place, it would have been more worth it to have that extra day to try and see a tiger. It was also really nice to be out in nature, where I could breathe in the scent of salty sea water. The next time I come to India, I definitely need to see more of its natural places and less of the urban ones.
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