The Beauty of Sundarban

Sundarban Mangrove is the biggest in the world and convers area's of India and Bangladesh.Sundarban is in south west part of Bangladesh in the district of greater Khulna.India shares a bit of forest with Bangladesh.The area of Sundarban is about 38,000 square kilometers.Sundarban is a large block of natural forest.Sundarban is the natural history for its arrays of trees and wild life.There are about 200 islands in Sundarbans,separeted by about 400 inter-connected tidal rivers,creeks and canals.
About 200 years ago the Sundarban's was about 16,700 square kilometers.Now it is 4,110 square kilometers,which about 17,00 square kilometers is occupied by water badies.The forest lies under two forest division and four administrative ranges viz chandpai,sarankhola,khulna and Burigoalini and it has 16 forest stations.The forest has divided into 55 compartments and blocks.
The Sundarban was declared as a reserve forest in the year 1875.About 32,400 hectors of the sundarbans have been declared as three wildlife sanctuaries and it was recognized by as the UNESCO World Heritage site in 1999.

The beauty lies in its unique natural sarrounding.Sundarban is a part of the world's largest delta formed by the river Ganges,Brammaputro and Meghna.Thousands of meandering streams,creeks,river andestuaries have enhanced its beauty.All the area of forest,the lofty treetops form an unbroken canopy.While nearer the ground,work of high and abb tide marked on the soil and tree trunks and many varieties of natural mangrove forest have much to offer to an inquisitive visitor.            Meaning of Sundarban 

The Bangla word ban means forest and the name Sundar was taken either from the forest of sundari tree.

Climate:-The Sundarban is Situated on the South of the Trophic of Cancer and bounded by the northern Limits of the Bay of Bengal,So the forest is classified as tropical moist forest . The temperatures in the Sundarbans are fairly equable than those of the adjacent areas . The average annual maximum temperatures is 30*c and minimum temperatures is 21*c High temperatures occur from mid march to mid june and Low in December and january . 

  In the Sundarban the Saltwater forest is situated in the South-/Westerm part where Gewa,Goran,Keora,Ora,passur,Dhundul,Bain and other rhizophores and Hantal dominate.The typical mangrove species dominate the central part of the forest.
 

There is a thick mat of the ' Golpata' by the side of almost all the canals.The moderately clean water area,which flows down the passur,Haringhata and Burisher maintaining the surface water at a lower level of salinity.

Funa:The forest has a large variety of animals.It is the last strong hold of the Bengal tiger(penthra tigris).Within the Sundarban habitats there are about 50 species of Mammals,about 320 species of migratory birds,about 50 species of reptiles, 8 species of amphibians 400 species of fish.
Royal Bengal Tiger is the spectacular of Sundarban,the other notable mammalian funa are spotted deer,Barking deer,Rhesus macaque,Jangle cat, The Indian Porcapine,wild bear constitute the main prey  for the tigers.Some species including the Bengal tiger are rare in the world.

The ecological variety of Sundarban support large different kinds birds.Among the total number of species recorded,most are resident.Over 50 species are known to be migratory and are mostly represented by the water fowls.The egrets,herons,botters,carlew,nemerous other waders are seen along the muddy banks.There are much class of terns and gulls,especially,along the seacast and the larger water ways. kites,eagles,vulture,harrier etc is represented by about 22 avifaunas of the forest include species.Nine species of the king fisher are available in Sundarban.The rich avifaunas of the forest include species of barbets,owls,woodpacker,be-eaters,bulbul,shrikes,drongos,mynas,babblers,trush,oriole and many other things. Of about 50 classes of reptiles the largest member in the forest is the Estuarine Crocodile, some of which may attain a length of about seven meters.Although once they were abundant in this forest habitate,their total number is now estimated to be around 250 species of lizards,including the Monitor lizards varanus,tartles and snakes are well represented.Among the snakes, the king Cobra,Russell's Viper,Rock Python and several classes of sea snakes are notable.