Sundarbans



The sundarbans is the largest littoral mangrove belt in the world, stretching 80km into the hinterland from the coast. The forests aren’t just mangrove swamps; they include some of the last remaining stands of the mighty jungles that once covered the Gangetic Plain.



The Sundarbans begin about 5km south-west of Mongla along the Pusur River, and cover an area of nearly 3600 sq km in Bangladesh and another 2400sq km in India. This is still thought to be half the size it was 200 years ago. About one-third of the total area of this forest is covered in water – river channels, canals and tidal creeks varying in width from a few metres to a few kilometers. The land is constantly being reshaped by tidal action, and cyclones wreak havoc.
The ecological balance of these impenetrable forests is extremely delicate and influenced greatly by tidal shifts that affect the salinity, and hence the growth rates, of the surrounding vegetation. The eclectic inhabitants of the Sundarbans range from deer, pigs and crabs to the mighty Bengal tiger. The Divisional Forestry Office supervises activities to protect the delicate ecological balance and botanists, zoologists, environmentalists and conservationists around the world keep eager eyes on this ecological repository.