I remembered the day when we first saw the picturesque tree shaded beach of Frazerganj in one of the popular travel websites, thinking that it is ‘kovalam’ of the East Coast and decided to visit the place during the festive holidays of 2011.
After some little research on the internet about the location, the route direction and mainly the available accommodation at Frazerganj,the one maintained and run by West Bengal Fisheries Department, popularly called as 'Benfish' seemed attractive enough from both the facilities vis-à-vis price as well as its location near the fishing harbour, and encouraged me to do the booking of the cottages.
Thus one September,2011 morning I left Bangalore on a morning 6.50a.m flight for Kolkata where I was received by my wife and an another enthusiastic family from my in-;aws side, around 11 am and we headed stratight for Namkhana, completely unaware of the great confusion of continuous and repeated traffic snarls at every major road crossing of Calcutta that reduced our movement to a snail’s pace, only to delay us further making us reach Namkhana around 6p.m,We were excited to see and experience the cossing of a river by huge barges that accommodate several passenger cars,trucks and busses besides two wheelers also.
But unfortunately was again got delayed as we came to know that the barge will not start befoe 8p.m owing to high tide.Finally at 8.30 it loaded with several cars,trucks and a bus and left for the other side of the river.It was quite an experience and we were amazed to see how so many fully loaded vehicles were ferried .Once we reached the other side,it was already 9pm and we headed for the Benfish Guest House and after travelling another 21 kilometers in pitch darkness before finding out the halogen lights of the campus of the Guest House like a beacon in the darkess.After freshning up and having a late dinner we were so tired from our day’s excursion that we decided to call it a day,leaving all to be explored for the next day.
DAY-1
Generally when I am tired I wake up a little late but it was an exception that I woke up to the sound of bird chirping in the tree just beside my cottage’s balcony and ran with my camera to take a snap of it.But before I could capture its beautiful color ,it flew away and I with disappointment decided to explore the surroundings particularly the fishing harbour behind the Benfish Guest House. It was a small but busy harbour on a backwater that is connected to the Bay of Bengal on one side, with fishing trawlers leaving for the catch and some returning with loads of fish of different varieties some very popular while others unknown.There we met a couple of Fishermen who also conduct tour in their boats to places like Jambu Dwip,Bharatpur Croc santuary and some other tourist destinations. We decided to first visit the island of Jambu Dwip and after having our breakfast we took one of the boat for the island. It was an hour's boat ride through some rough sea waters that took our breath away with the boat rolling heavily before we found ourselves in the middle of sea with the shore of Jambu Dwip in the distance like a black straight line.After the boat anchored some 20 feet away from the shore, we had to wade through knee deep water to reach the island. It was 12 in the afternoon and the sun was beating heavily on us ,We headed for that part of the island where the waves were crashing heavily on the sandy beach with innumerable sea birds crowding the beach as if having a gala of a time.
After taking few sanps of these incredible creatures we decided to return back to our boat as the heat was taking a heavy toll on us and we headed back to the harbour in Frazerganj and then to our Guest House from there.
Back in the Guest House we had a sumptuous meal and rested in the afternoon. In the evening we visited the Frazerganj beach and watched the setting sun while sipping tea in earthen pots.
The beach has lost its seating arrangements and much of its vegetation, whose picture made us so encouraged to think it as 'Kovalam' of the East Coast, to the waves of the sea that has eroded much of the coast line in this part of the country.
The beach has lost its seating arrangements and much of its vegetation, whose picture made us so encouraged to think it as 'Kovalam' of the East Coast, to the waves of the sea that has eroded much of the coast line in this part of the country.
Day 2-
Started the day early around 5 a.m and visited Henry Fisheries Island to watch the sun rise from the watch tower there. It was truly a magnificent view from the watch tower and we could see up further till the sea from there which was looking absolutely breathing in the first rays of sunlight.
On the way from returning to our Guest House we were mulling the fact when we have come so near to Sunderbans so we should also visit it and finally decided to go by river to Sunderbans.The first hurdle is to find location from where the boats leave for Sunderbans and then to hire one such for the trip.We were told by one of the localities at Bakkhali that there are launces and motor boats that leave fro Sunderbans at Namkhana,So decided to leave for Namkhana without losing much time. On reaching we stopped at one of the eateries and had our breakfast where we luckily met one who owned to motorboats and was willing to let us hire one for a day and took us to Sunderbans. Although we had the option of having lunch cooked and served by those who were conducting the boat trip yet we decided to cook the lunch ourselves and did some shopping for the same before we boarded the boat. It was an entirely new experience for all of us to visit Sunderbans by boat and spending the entire day in a boat and were excited like anything. Before the boat started ,a priest offered puja as it was the maiden voyage of this boat after the same was renovated.
The boat took a brief halt at India’s first water borne Re-fuelling Station run and maintained by Indian Oil Corporation and after refueling it headed straight for Bhagabathpur Crocodile sanctuary island.
After the boat moored there we disembarked and headed for the place that has crocodiles from the hatching stage to fully grown one,in hundreds. One particular crocodile of 4years age caught our attention which was completely white in color.
After we completed visiting , we returned back to our boat which left the sanctuary immediately and we headed for a place that was on river Matla and was famous for its ‘Bonbibi’s Temple. On the way the boat again dropped anchor near another island with mangrove trees where we had our lunch of egg curry and prawn in our boat only. It was quite enchanting to have food on the river itself in the boat with mangrove forest islands all round us. After we completed our lunch we again set sail for this island which were told had Royal Bengal Tiger , beside having deer and Olive riddle turtle and of course estuarine crocodiles. It also hads the famous ‘Bonbibi’ temple which we have read about in so many novels that were written based on this enigmatic landscape of Sunderbans.
Once we reached near this Lothian Wildlife Sanctuary we decide to moore near that side of the island which ends into the Bay of Bengal. From there we could also watch the famous Bonbibi’s temple which was in a ramshackle condition because of a storm that happened some few months back. We waited in our boat for an elusive glimpse of that magnificent creature of Royal Bengal Tiger, watching the sun setting in the distance before engulfing us in darkness, which was interspersed now and then with the lights of passing fishing trawlers.
It was really a new experience as the lanterns were put on in the boat and dinner was cooked. We had a simple dinner of pulses, rice and omelets before setting sail for Namkhana and from there back to our Guest House in Frazerganj.
On the way from returning to our Guest House we were mulling the fact when we have come so near to Sunderbans so we should also visit it and finally decided to go by river to Sunderbans.The first hurdle is to find location from where the boats leave for Sunderbans and then to hire one such for the trip.We were told by one of the localities at Bakkhali that there are launces and motor boats that leave fro Sunderbans at Namkhana,So decided to leave for Namkhana without losing much time. On reaching we stopped at one of the eateries and had our breakfast where we luckily met one who owned to motorboats and was willing to let us hire one for a day and took us to Sunderbans. Although we had the option of having lunch cooked and served by those who were conducting the boat trip yet we decided to cook the lunch ourselves and did some shopping for the same before we boarded the boat. It was an entirely new experience for all of us to visit Sunderbans by boat and spending the entire day in a boat and were excited like anything. Before the boat started ,a priest offered puja as it was the maiden voyage of this boat after the same was renovated.
The boat took a brief halt at India’s first water borne Re-fuelling Station run and maintained by Indian Oil Corporation and after refueling it headed straight for Bhagabathpur Crocodile sanctuary island.
After the boat moored there we disembarked and headed for the place that has crocodiles from the hatching stage to fully grown one,in hundreds. One particular crocodile of 4years age caught our attention which was completely white in color.
After we completed visiting , we returned back to our boat which left the sanctuary immediately and we headed for a place that was on river Matla and was famous for its ‘Bonbibi’s Temple. On the way the boat again dropped anchor near another island with mangrove trees where we had our lunch of egg curry and prawn in our boat only. It was quite enchanting to have food on the river itself in the boat with mangrove forest islands all round us. After we completed our lunch we again set sail for this island which were told had Royal Bengal Tiger , beside having deer and Olive riddle turtle and of course estuarine crocodiles. It also hads the famous ‘Bonbibi’ temple which we have read about in so many novels that were written based on this enigmatic landscape of Sunderbans.
Once we reached near this Lothian Wildlife Sanctuary we decide to moore near that side of the island which ends into the Bay of Bengal. From there we could also watch the famous Bonbibi’s temple which was in a ramshackle condition because of a storm that happened some few months back. We waited in our boat for an elusive glimpse of that magnificent creature of Royal Bengal Tiger, watching the sun setting in the distance before engulfing us in darkness, which was interspersed now and then with the lights of passing fishing trawlers.
It was really a new experience as the lanterns were put on in the boat and dinner was cooked. We had a simple dinner of pulses, rice and omelets before setting sail for Namkhana and from there back to our Guest House in Frazerganj.
The next day we left Frazerganj after our breakfast and headed straight for Calcutta carrying with us some memorable good time that we spent amidst the tranquility of this magnificent landscape with the only regret of failing to see the Royal Bengal Tiger
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