Two tigers were seen swimming across rivers in the Katka and Kochikhali areas of the Sharankhola range in the Sundarbans East Division, a sight enjoyed by tourists on two luxury cruisers named Sampan and Crown.

The Sundarbans has reopened to tourists after a three-month closure for the breeding of wildlife and fish, and the sighting came at the very start of the tourist season.

Forest guards also had the chance to enjoy such a sight. At midday on Sunday 3 September they saw another tiger swimming across a river in the Alibanda area near the Sharankhola range office. Videos of the three tigers crossing the rivers, filmed on mobile phones and uploaded to social media, went viral within moments.

Sheikh Mahbub Hasan, assistant conservator of forests and Sharankhola range officer of the Sundarbans East Forest Division, said the Sundarbans was opened to tourists and forest-dependent people from 1 September after a three-month ban during the wildlife and fish breeding season. At midday on Saturday 2 September, local and foreign tourists on the luxury cruiser Crown saw a tiger swim across a river in the Kochikhali area of the Sharankhola range. On Sunday morning, tourists on another luxury cruiser, Sampan, saw one swim across in the Katka area of the range. At midday, forest guards had the rare chance to see another tiger swim across a river at Alibanda near the range office. The close-up videos of the three tigers have already gone viral on social media.

Earlier, on 8 August, a tiger was seen in front of the office of the Kochikhali sanctuary centre in the Sharankhola range. The large tiger came very close to the forest guards' barracks, and a forest guard filmed it on his mobile phone.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.