Sundarban day two

We slept well, thanks, perhaps, to a mattress not quite too hard, the ceiling fan keeping us cool, quietness, and simply being weary. Jen's morning coffee was delivered to our bungalow at 7.00; by 7.30 we were back on our boat heading for another island housing a conservation project.

Breakfast was served as we chugged along, I received Jen's onion omelette and she took my shandesh (sweet cardamom cake). 

The environment is very different at high tide, which peaked about an hour into our passage. Many mangrove and other trees were obviously just showing leaves and branches above the water, and there was no mud. 

We passed into the more restricted areas where fishing isn't allowed (the most restricted areas tourist boats are prohibited from) and enjoyed our quiet cruise, punctuated every now and again by sightings; not much new from yesterday so we may have been a little more relaxed. 

The tide was about half when we reached Dabanki Camp where we could use a fenced concrete walkway to view various ponds, clearings, mangrove nursery plots and the fauna. Various birds, terrapins, deer, a wild boar and tiger pawprints were noted, but it was very exposed in the midday sun. 

We returned to the resort by a partially different route, but the biggest difference was the tide being low - and spring tide just now with a difference of about 3.5 metres. 

Lunch was lovely, the usual rice and dall this time with fried fish and karela (a new vegetable to me) and bhindi. 

Line fisherman near our hotel. 

Hotel by 3.40, then out again at 4.30 to have a very slow stroll into the local village. There is a wedding going on. Loud music has been infusing the hotel since we rose at 6.00 this morning, but the phenomenal loudness close by was painful - as we walked past the speakers my phone app logged over 100 dB; while we picked up the pace to pass quickly there were bairns dancing right in front. 

Goats in the paddy field - it'll be replanted when monsoon arrives in a month or two. 

The area high school also has a hostel for boys, not sure about girls. 

The remarkable thing about this picture isn't the lady taking her goats for a walk, it's the road sign - warnings like this are so rare, but at least this one is misleading! 

Jen was given a bairn to hold and be photographed. 

The sun was setting as we returned to the resort and we spent a while sorting photos - there are many more than here, but poor mobile signal is making using them very long winded. Our guide tells us internet is about to arrive at the village. 

Supper was tasty chicken curry, but a bit hard to eat as chicken seems to be butchered totally randomly as the cleaver falls. But we also had chips! Wonderful - think-free food. 

As we drove here past rivers and canals discharging into the delta I feared the tremendous floating load of plastic (water bottles and carrier bags mostly) would be evident here. I don't know where it ends up, but for the majority of the waterways we've floated in so far there is none evident. 

The Sundarbans have agriculture and tourism - there are many resorts such as this dotted around and each is a big employer with associated hotel services, boat crew, guides etc. The most widely used language in India is English, but here very little is spoken - almost none in the resort and our guide struggled. Bengali is the language of the area and almost all tourists are Bengali speakers from Kolkata, it seems. 

We head back to Kolkata tomorrow, leaving here around 7.30.