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Sundarbans National Park - The Jewel of West Bengal
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| Tiger in Sundarbans |
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Fishing Boat |
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Crocodile |
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Sundarbans National Park is situated in the Parganas district of West Bengal in India. The park is named after the Sundari trees present in the area. Sundarban is made up of 54 small islands crisscrossed by several distributaries of the Ganges. Spread over a vast area of 6526 sq miles (including water) the history of the area can be dated back to 200-300 AD.
Sundarbans was declared a reserve forest in the year 1875-76. The Sundarbans National Park was declared as a core area of Sundarbans Tiger Reserve in 1973, and a wildlife sanctuary in 1977. In 1984 it was declared as a National Park. It was inscribed on the UNESCO world heritage list in the year 1987.
The biotic factors here play a significant role in physical coastal evolution and for wildlife.
There are about 64 species of flora in the sundarbans. Majority comprises of Sundari (Heritiera fomes), Goran (Ceriops decandra) , Garjan (Rhizophora spp.) etc. The fauna of Sundarbans is dominated by the royal bengal tiger followed by fishing cats, jungle cats, wild boar, pangolin, and chital.
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A variety of bird species is also found in the sundarbans. These include open billed storks, white ibis, spotted doves, pelicans etc. Quite a few varieties of aqua fauna which include sawfish, electric rays, king crabs, dolphins, frogs and toads thrive in the area.
This World Heritage Site is under threat of physical disaster due to unscientific and excessive human interferences. Conservation and environmental management plan for safeguarding this unique coastal ecology is urgently required!
The only means of travel in the park is by boat. Boats are available according to the choice of the visitors. Hotels, rest houses and lodges are aplenty in the vicinity of the national park. Ideal time to visit the park is from November to February. Sundarbans is well connected by road, rail and airways.
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