Sundarbans from Mongla

Local food to try

Fish and crab on board
Sundarbans from Mongla
Tour boats cook fresh river fish, prawns and crab with rice and dal.
Sundarbans honey
Sundarbans from Mongla
Wild honey sold in Mongla; buy from a trusted seller.
Golda prawn
Sundarbans from Mongla
Bagerhat’s giant river prawns, in Mongla’s eateries.

Where to eat

Mongla town
Mongla, Bagerhat
Simple eateries near the ghat for a meal before or after a day trip.
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On board
Tour boats
On multi-day trips, all meals are cooked on the boat.
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Where to stay

Licensed tour boats
From Khulna or Mongla
The usual way to see the deep forest: two or three nights on board, with cabins, meals, guide and guards.
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Mongla
Mongla, Bagerhat
Hotels in the port town for a day trip to Karamjal.
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Khulna city
About 1–1.5 hours away
The widest choice of hotels; many trips start here.
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Culture

The people who work in the forest — mawali honey collectors, bawali woodcutters and golpata gatherers, and fishermen — go in with permits in season, and many pray first to Bonbibi, the forest’s guardian, whose shrines stand along the edge of the forest. The honey season usually opens in spring.

History

The Sundarbans is the largest mangrove forest on earth, a maze of tidal rivers, creeks and islands where the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna meet the Bay of Bengal. It is shared by Bangladesh and India, and the Bangladesh part was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1997. The name is often explained by the sundari tree, one of its typical mangroves.

The forest is the home of the Bengal tiger, along with spotted deer, rhesus macaques, wild boar, estuarine crocodiles, river dolphins and hundreds of kinds of birds. It also shields the coast from cyclones and supports the honey collectors, fishermen and woodcutters who have worked here for generations.

From Mongla, the closest stop is Karamjal, a Forest Department centre on the Pasur river with a wooden walkway through the mangroves, a watchtower and a breeding centre for crocodiles and deer. Longer trips on licensed tour boats go south for two or three nights to places such as Kotka, Kochikhali and Harbaria, with walks on forest trails, sea beaches and quiet creeks at dawn.

Tour plans

A day trip to Karamjal

One day

Step 1: Early bus to Mongla
Leave Khulna early and reach Mongla ghat in the morning.
Step 2: Boat down the Pasur
Hire a registered trawler and ride down the Pasur, past ships at anchor, to Karamjal.
Step 3: Karamjal walkway
Walk the wooden trail through the mangroves, climb the watchtower and look for deer and monkeys.
Step 4: Breeding centre
See the crocodile and deer breeding centre and the small information displays.
Step 5: Back to Mongla
Return by boat in the afternoon, eat in Mongla and take the bus back to Khulna.

Plan your visit

Best time to visit

November to February, when the weather is cool and the rivers calm; trips may be suspended in bad weather and during seasonal forest closures

How to get there

Mongla is about 1–1.5 hours by bus from Khulna and about 1 hour from Bagerhat town. From the Mongla ghat, hired trawlers reach Karamjal on the Pasur river in roughly an hour. Multi-day trips leave from Khulna or Mongla on licensed tour boats.

Getting around

Everything in the forest is by boat: trawlers, tour boats and small country boats for narrow creeks.
On land, walk only on marked trails and wooden walkways, with your guide.

Travel tips

Entry to the forest needs Forest Department permission and fees; tour operators usually arrange this — check the current rules.
Go with a licensed operator and a registered guide; longer trips travel with armed forest guards.
Never wander off the trails or leave the group, and stay on the boat unless the guide says it is safe — tigers and crocodiles are real.
Plans depend on the tides: landings and creek trips are timed to the water, so be ready to start early.
Carry plenty of drinking water, insect repellent, sunscreen, a hat and muted clothes; keep noise down to see wildlife.
Take every bit of rubbish back with you, and never feed or approach animals.