A rare and exceptional experience awaits travellers on the Ganga Vilas cruise. The newly launched Ganga Vilas, which sails from Varanasi to Dibrugarh for over 50 days, covering twenty-seven river systems and visiting over fifty tourist sites, offers a never-before experience exploring the world’s spectacular Sundarbans Delta sequestered in West Bengal’s delta lands of the Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers. This World Heritage Site has a total expanse of 26,000sq km, of which 9,630 sq km falls in India and the rest in neighbouring Bangladesh.
Visiting the Sundarbans is a fabulous Nature-Culture experience which you would never have imagined even in your wildest dreams. Not only will you be travelling through short spells of the world’s largest single tidal mangrove forest ecosystem, you can look forward to sightings of the stunning Royal Bengal Tiger in a unique habitat— a far run from its usual surroundings of tropical forestlands. This apex predator, like the Park’s immense wealth of flora and fauna, has adapted to the unique environs of this primordial saltwater tidal habitat marked by dense mangrove trees, interwoven creeks, and tranquil waterways.
As you cruise along these magical waterways, opportunities are aplenty for sightings of the estuarine crocodile, the Gangetic and Irrawaddy dolphin, saltwater crocodile, Olive Ridley turtles, Mangrove horseshoe crabs, many avifaunal species, reptiles, and amphibians in this extraordinary halophytic mangrove forest kingdom.
The spotlight also falls on the communities, a mix of Hindu, Islamic, and Adivasis groups, who live in and around this otherworldly habitat, and how they have adapted to its harsh conditions with stoic strength. Their syncretic connection with the mangrove forests and the creatures who have made the land and the water their home scripts a unique narrative of their lived reality, which enriches at every telling.
From this extraordinary ‘Aathero Bhaatir Desh’ or the land of eighteen tides, another name for Sundarbans, has emerged one of West Bengal’s legendary folk tales— that of Bonbibi, enriched by Islamic, Hindu, and folk elements. Bonbibi is intrinsic to the world of this rare natural and cultural landscape. Under Bonbibi’s rule, this forested tidal kingdom became safe for humans to settle here. She is the revered deity of Sundarbans communities and their fierce protector from calamities.
In the words of Amitav Ghosh, author of the Hungry Tide: “The Sunderman is a landscape of astonishing vitality and power.” And as the ship powers you through the river toward this amazing natural phenomenon, these words will resonate strongly with you.
Travellers on Antara’s Sundarbans luxury cruise can enjoy world-class amenities while exploring this extraordinary wilderness. Every moment on the cruise is filled with awe and discovery— an unforgettable experience to be cherished for years to come.