Page 295 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

WEST BENGAL & SIKKIM  293

VISITORS’ CHECKLIST
Practical Information
24 Parganas district. 168 km
(104 miles) SE of Kolkata.
n For bookings: Field Director,
Estuarine or Saltwater Crocodile (03218) 255 280. Permits available
Saltwater crocodiles, known as “salties”, grow up to a length of at Tourist Dept, Kolkata, (033)
8 m (26 ft). They feed on small mammals and have occasionally 2248 8271. Open all year; the
been known to attack humans. best time to visit is Sep–Apr. &
8 compulsory. s Rowboats
Kolkata Kolkata with boatmen are available
from Sajnakhali.
Transport
Canning
£ Canning, 45 km (28 miles) NW
of Sajnakhali, the entry point to
the Tiger Reserve. @ Basanti,
30 km (19 miles) NW of Sajnakhali.
4 from Canning or Basanti via
Diamond Harbour Basanti Gosaba to Sajnakhali.
Gosaba
Jaynagar-Majilpur J
Sajnakhali Jhila
J BANGLADESH
Arbesi
J
Khatuajhuri
Raidighi Panchamukhani
Harinbhanga

Netidhopani
Kachuberia
Chandkhali Royal Bengal Tiger
Chamta R ai m a ngal According to the 2015 census, the Indian
stretch of the Sunderbans has
M a t l a Harinb h anga 106 Royal Bengal tigers. The only tigers
Matla known to live in mangrove forests,
Sagar they have adapted remarkably to
Island Goashaba Gosaba the environment, becoming expert
Chotahardi Gona swimmers and feeding on fish.
Lothian
Island J a m i r a Halliday
Ganga Sagar Saptamukhi Island Tale of the Tiger
Digha
Mayadwip
The tiger plays a major role in India’s cultural history as a symbol
Bakkhali Bhangaduni of power and kingship. In Hindu iconography, Shiva wears a tiger
skin, while the fearsome Goddess Durga is often portrayed riding
a tiger. Tiger images can also be seen in vibrant murals in Buddhist
monasteries in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Ladakh. In the
Sunderbans, ritual offerings are made to the forest deity, Banbibi,
to seek protection from the tiger. Yet statistics belie the tiger’s
mythic status. In 1900,
0 kilometres 10
India’s tiger population was
0 miles 10 about 40,000; by 1972 it
had fallen to 1,800. Alarmed,
the Indian government
Key launched Project Tiger.
Numbers seem to have
Minor road
grown. India has about
Park boundary 60 per cent of the world’s
International border tiger population, protected
National Highway in 28 Project Tiger Reserves A play re-enacting Banbibi protecting a mother
across the country. and child from the tiger
Major road
For keys to symbols see back flap
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