Bonbibi Festival & Basic Sundarbans trip

Trip Highlights

This trip is exclusively designed to integrate the Bonbibi Festival within a regular Sundarbans trip. The timing of tide and cruse has to be accurate. On top of experiencing the Bonbibi festival this Sundarbans trip will have a little bit of everything; A glimpse of the forest and it’s extra ordinary wildlife, a bit of adventure and exploration and an astounding eating experience.

This 3 days 3 nights trip starts from Khulna and will travel to Laudobe village, Katka, Tambulbunia and Harbaria then return back to Khulna. Activities include Silent Country Boat Trip in to the canals, Walk through muddy forest looking for Pugmark, Walking on wooden path, Beach Walk and Swimming in the Bay of Bengal.

The Bonbibi

The locals who enter the Sundarbans forest for resource extraction (fish, crabs wood ,palm leaves , honey ,wax and other minor forest products) need protection from dangers, in accordance with and old mythology they pray to the forest goddess ‘Bonbibi’, who freed a poor boy (Dukhe) from the sway of a tiger, an embodiment of the evil with name ‘’Dakkhin Roy. Although Bonbibi was a Muslim lady, originating from Mecca, she is worshiped by Hindus, while Muslims tend to regard her as a saint.

Along the forest edges and within the adjacent Hindu villages small shrines with clay figurines are built in her honor, Once in a year, often in January, it’s time to inaugurate her new statues that goes along with reading Bonbibi’s full story by a priest, with offering and prayers (Bonbibi puja). Some villages organize a Bonbibi Mela (fair ) and a Bonbibi Jatra (theater) at the same day, an occasion of joy and happiness for all the family members.

Trip Itinerary

Day 0: BOARDING AND SETTLE IN

Get on-board anytime before evening. Have a cup of tea and slowly settle down. The boat will start early EVENING, depending on the tide, from Khulna and will cruise to Dhangmari, further down from Mongla. After a welcome dinner the boat will anchor here for the night.
DAY 1: THE BONBIBI FESTIVAL

Early morning the boat will cruise to Laudobe village through a beautiful river. Look for birds and monkeys while you’re having your breakfast. After breakfast till lunch explore the village and the festival. After lunch the boat will resume its cruise towards Katka and arrives there about midnight.
DAY 2: A DAY IN THE FOREST

This whole day will be full of activities. In the early morning, after a cup of tea we will have a Silent Country Boat Trip through the narrow creeks of Katka. This is the beast way to observe wildlife, especially Birds and occasionally tigers. Around 8 breakfast on the lounge. Get ready for next few hours. We will start a gentle walk through the meadow and through the forest looking at herds of Chital, the spotted deer and other terrestrial animals. Then we’ll arrive at Badamtala beach. A pristine sandy beach. By now the Sun is high and you can not resist to ump into the tropical warm water. After the swimming take a snack break and head back to the boat. By then you should be very hungry. But when you’ll see the lunch table you’ll know the wait was worthwhile. In the afternoon we’ll walk behind the Katka forest office on a wooden path to a small patch of beach decorated with century old salt potteries. The boat will start cruise to Tambulbunia forest station by the time the BBQ fire is on. The boat will anchore at Tambulbunia for the night.
DAY 3: RECHARGE YOURSELF ON THE CRUISE BACK

After the boat trip in the early morning the boat will cruise to Harbaria through a beautiful river. Upon arriving Harbaria you’ll have a walk on a wooden path through a gorgeous Sundari forest. Just a bit careful, sometime the monkeys can get too friendly. Get back to the boat with a good appetite and enjoy your lunch. The boat will start to head back to Khulna and will arrive in the evening. Have your goos bye dinner on board and disembark.

Overview

M.L. Bawali and it’s Captain & Crew will host this trip. Bawali is a 20 meters long beautiful tourist boat especially designed and built for Sundarbans Expeditions. Bawali has 6 rooms consisting a double and a single bead. It has 2 lounges. Lounges, accommodation area and wash area is completely separate from the crew area to ensure privacy. Visit Bawali page.

Price

Price for Sundarbans tours depends on many things. Duration and destination of the trip, number of people on-board and their nationality, if the trip is exclusive or mixed group, and many other things. So it is difficult to come up with just a price. Please let us know your desire, we will quote you a price in 12 hours.

But to have an Idea, this trip will cost about 200-250 USD per person.