GANGES VOYAGER - Sailing into the Sundarbans with Antara Cruises

In January I boarded the Ganges Voyager in Calcutta to depart on an exciting week-long trip into the Sunderbans and along the Ganges. Good morning everybody. It is my first morning on board the Ganges Voyager and I've just woken up with these incredible views. We're currently on the edge of the Sunderbans. We've seen the beginnings of the mangroves alongside the edge of the river so I'm just enjoying the views, watching all the boats going past and this is a very pleasant start to my morning. The Sunderbans is split between India and Bangladesh. It's a protected area and national park famous for its incredible wildlife. Our ship anchored at various locations and we took smaller boats to explore the mangrove area and numerous islands. It is a lovely morning here in the Sunderbans and today we have stopped off at Bali Island which is a delta island and also a conservation area. Now we're really not that far away from the Bangladesh border and there's actually a community here of around 25,000 people including a lot of families and the people here are fishermen. They work for rice paddies. Who's coming to say hello? Hello! And this is all a massive conservation area so there is a chance to see a lot of wildlife, a lot of birds and even the chance to possibly see a tiger. Hi! I have honestly never heard this many birds in India before and if I was a keen birder or at least if I knew more about the birds then I would be able to recognize some of these sounds. Luckily we do have a few naturalists with us with some incredibly long lenses and binoculars who have been pointing out all sorts actually. We just saw a beautiful kingfisher and this is a very lovely place to wander around. We've just been past a few of the conservation offices and I'm just stood in front of the school at the moment. Although it is very remote it seems like a nice place for the children to grow up here. There's a lot of kids around all playing together. So on my very first visit to India I spent some time in Bihar and it was here that I learned about making these which are cow dung patties, cow dung cakes which are used for fuel and I actually had a go at making these and basically you mix straw in with the cow dung, flatten it down and then dry it out which is what is happening here. They put them on the roof to get the most sunlight and then it's actually used as a really efficient fuel and I did actually have a go cooking using some of that as fuel and it's more environmentally friendly, more sustainable and cheaper than a lot of other fuel sources. So today I've decided to come and join one of the daily excursions and we've headed out on one of the Forestry Commission boats into some of the smaller channels and canals in the Sunderbans and we've got off now at a place called Neti Daupadi which is a protected area and the first thing I noticed when I got off the boat is just the sound of the birds all around. I was told that the Sunderbans is a really great place for bird watching and already we've only walked about 20 meters off the boat and we've seen a whole host of birds. So there is a watchtower that you can climb to the top of and you get really nice views here over some of the forest and mangrove areas and it's about three o'clock now so the sun is setting a little bit. It is still a little bit foggy, smoggy, foggy, whichever one you want to say but despite there being a few people below it's very nice and peaceful and you can just hear all of the different types of birds around. Well we have had a glorious three days in the Sunderbans spotting birds, crocodiles, I've just been enjoying sailing on the boat as well and today has actually been a ship day so we've all been relaxing, reading, eating and drinking a lot as well and now we are sailing back towards Calcutta. I've still got another three nights on the boat and this part of the trip is called Europe on the Ganges so we're actually going to be visiting a few different settlements, a Danish settlement called Serampore and I believe tomorrow we're going to a French settlement so I've still got quite a lot to explore and a lot to look forward to. While we're docked in Calcutta let me show you around the ship. So there's plenty of areas to relax and this here is the upper deck also known as the sun deck and there's a few sun lounges at the front there and it's an absolutely perfect temperature right now it's about 24 degrees so not too hot not too cold. This is the lounge area this is very nice and relaxing there's a little mini library over there and then a bar area which I imagine I will be visiting. Hello how are you? Good thank you we're just having a little look around. Very nice. There is a gym on board which is great and I have actually promised myself that I'm going to try and use this most days but I will get back to you in a week's time and see whether that was true or not. So this is the front of the boat the wheelhouse where the captain, I was going to say where the captain lives but I suppose where the captain is steering the ship from. So every room on board is a suite it's an all suite ship and this is the signature suite that I'm staying in So double bed two nice chairs and they all have Juliet balconies which is amazing I have grand plans for sitting here and drawing and reading watching the world go by and this is really nice and spacious actually and it's been about nine years since I've been in Calcutta so it's really nice to be back. During sailing times a number of activities were put on throughout the day where we could learn about Indian culture history and heritage So the ship offers lots of on-board activities and we've just done a tea tasting so they've made some lovely masala chai which whenever I'm in India I love having anyway and this was made very traditionally there's lots of cardamom it smells lovely and actually they've given us these very traditional ceramic cups and a little bit like how coca-cola tastes really different if you've got a plastic bottle or a glass bottle obviously the ceramic drinking cup here does actually give quite a different flavour and these are only used one time each ah lovely. We made a number of stops north of Calcutta to learn about the history of the Ganges at one stop we were even surprised by a parade going past so we've come to see definitely one of the most famous sites in Bansbury this is the Kaneswara temple which is dedicated to Kali who is a consort of Lord Shiva and they started building it in 1799 when it was finished in 1814 and as you can see as well as a functioning temple it's clearly a very popular spot for tourists to come and look at as well it's actually quite an unusual style of architecture because whilst it is partly Bengali there's also styles of architecture from neighbouring state Orissa which actually gives it a very unusual look and it is dedicated to Kali and of course Lord Shiva but as always there is a shrine or tribute to Ganesh Lord Ganesha as you enter the temple that evening we were treated to some traditional Bengali dancing afterwards we all joined in with the dancing and yes I know I'll stick to the day job good morning from the Ganges voyager we are just moored up outside Bandal which is just upstream from Calcutta where we'll be heading back to tomorrow and because it was such a beautiful morning I asked the staff if they could prepare me a breakfast on the top deck and they have obliged and given me the most incredible feast and I actually think this is a very good example of all of the different options that they've got downstairs in the restaurant so they've given me a fry up I am British after all alongside some very lovely looking muesli and fruit french toast and also one of my favourites the puri and this has to be one of the prettiest places that I've ever had breakfast after breakfast we had one final stop before it was time to say goodbye to the Ganges voyager so we are ending the final excursion which is in the Danish settlement of Serampore we've had a very lovely wander around and now it's time to go back to the boat for my final evening on board Ganges voyager and I've had a really lovely time on this trip it's been incredibly relaxing but I've enjoyed all of the excursions and it's been the perfect mix of adventure and culture and luxury I really hope that you guys have enjoyed watching the video and make sure to subscribe