Amar Sonar Bangla, alright, but where are the tourists?
The thrills Bangladesh Biman Airlines come- on that announces the longest beach in the world, the mangrove forest that is the Sunderban, or the rivers lazing through the swampyland, gives ample sense of what the tourism managers believe are the country's attractions for the Western visitor. And the poster of Parjatan, the national tourism corporation, is properly philosophical when it says, "Visit Bangladesh before the tourists come". Waiting is a part of life.
This is how the Parjatan brochure describes Sunderban: "A cluster of islands with an approximate area of 6000 sq km forming the largest block of littoral forests… Sunderban means beautiful forest and is the natural habitat of the world famous Royal Bengal Tiger, spotted deer, crocodiles, jungle fowl, wild boar, lizards, rhesus monkeys, and an innumerable variety of beautiful birds."
This "beautiful forest" lies in the southern extremities of the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta. It is, indeed, the world's last and largest man- grove swamp, with most of it in Bangladesh and some of it in neighbouring West Bengal. But marketing has been poor, and the 'tourism infrastructure' poorer still. One gets there by flying to Jessore or driving to Khulna, and continuing on a river launch through the canals. Few pick up the courage to get off the boat and into the ban once there, however. Only an indigenous tribe of honey collectors dares walk inside the swampy jungle, offering meagre bribes to the Ban-Bibi, the jungle goddess. It is rarer to find tourists in the Sunderban than the Royal Bengal tiger, which may be seen swimming in one of the thousands of placid creeks that sustain the mangroves.