Sunderbans National Park

Sunderbans National Park is located at the South Eastern tip of the 24 Paraganas district in West Bengal. The Sundarbans are a part of the world's largest delta formed by the rivers Ganges,Brahmaputra and Meghna. Sundarban is a vast area covering 4262 square kms in India alone, with a larger portion in Bangladesh.

2585 sq. kms of the Indian Sundarban forms the largest Tiger Reserve and National Park in India. The total area of the Indian part of the Sundarban forest, lying within the latitude between 21°13'-22°40' North and longitude 88°05'-89°06' East, is about 4,262 sq km, of which 2,125 sq km is occupied by mangrove forest across 56 islands and the balance is under water. The forest is called 'Sunderban'due to the rich growth of Sundari trees.

The park is surrounded by a buffer zone of 885 square kilometres. This also mainly consists of mangrove forests. The core area of the park has its own natural boundaries with the river Matla on its West, the river Haribhanga on its East, with Netidhopani and Gosba in the North.

The four Sunderbans national parks have been lumped together as they all share common features of the estuarine mangrove ecosystem. This place is bisected by complex network of mudflats, tidal waterways and small islands of saline mangrove forests, presenting an excellent instance of the ubiquitous ecological processes. The wide range of fauna, flora and avifauna is one of the distinct characteristics of Sundarbans which include more than 250 species of birds and the ferocious Royal Bengal Tiger along with the estuarine crocodile and the Indian python.

Sundarban_Tiger.jpg)The Sundarbans had been declared the core area of Sundarbans Tiger Reserve in 1973 and a wildlife sanctuary in the year 1977. In 1984, the Indian government declared the area a National Park. UNESCO designated Sundarbans National Park a World Heritage Site in 1987. The whole Sundarbans area had been declared a Biosphere Reserve in 1989.