Day 227 : Kolkata–Sunderbans

Went on a trip to the Sunderbans national park with a guide – Mowgli from Kolkata (and another tourist - Karen a lovely lady from New York). We took a hair-raising 3 hour Ambassador trip (the jeep had broken down) then a local boat then a 45 min bumpy cycle rickshaw / palette trailer thing to a rural village. On the way we saw lots of villages and animals and people in the beautiful sunlight.

We had a lovely (poo fire cooked) lunch at our base (the family home of our guide’s relatives), before going on a (manpowered) boat along the river to look for wildlife. We then went to see the social highlight of the weekend for many surounding villages which was cock fighting (no betting but the winner keeps the losing cock). People stared at us in Kolkata but nothing like the staring we got here (think they are more impressed by Will’s hair than mine)! Although we stared a lot too I guess!

Watched some local music that went on a bit too long before having some dinner. Slept on a small house boat ready for our tour in the morning.