You can do a lot of things when you're visiting Sundarbans. But one place which you should be visiting is the Sajnakhali Wildlife Sanctuary. This lesser known sanctuary is heavenly for nature lovers and people who love to stay close to the wilderness.
Revisit your liking for animals at this wildlife sanctuary located in the Sundarbans delta of south 24 Parganas. Sajnakhali Wildlife Sanctuary is situated at the confluence of Matla and Gumdi rivers, covers an area of 362.80 sq km and is 130km from Kolkata.
Sajnakhali is primarily known for its concentration of domestic and exotic birds. Photographers, birdwatchers and orinthologists are sure to have one hell of a time. Among all the bird species, the most prominent ones are billed pelican, cotton teal, white-backed vulture, herring gull, Caspian tern, grey heron, large egret, night heron, open-billed stork, white ibis, common kingfisher, brahminy kite and paradise flycatcher. If you're lucky, you can also spot waders, including the Asian dowitcher, a rare winter migrant.
If you belong to the pro-level category, then you can also spot prey birds such as Oriental hobby, northern eagle owl, brown fish owl, grey-headed fishing eagle, peregrine falcon, white-bellied sea eagle, osprey and Pallass fish eagle. You will be left mesmerised by the colours of kingfishers, plovers, whimbrels, sandpipers, curfews and lapwings. And when you are done with your day's quota of admiring the beautiful birds, spare time to spot deers, rhesus macaques (monkey), wild boars, tigers, water monitor lizards, otters, crocodiles, Batagur terrapins (riverine turtles), fishing cats and Olive ridley turtles.