Selims Raasta - Raasta means Road in Bangla - this is the road we choose.

We stood at the crowded platform at midnight, waiting for the delayed train that will take us from Dhaka to Khulna. I started having second thoughts of visiting the Sunderbans National Park in Bangladesh. Very much an off the beaten track destination, Sunderbans is the largest mangrove forest in the world, home to the Royal Bengal Tiger, salt water crocodiles, gibbons, and river dolphins. It is a very unique habitat with a plethora of wildlife and stunning natural landscape. Very few people, let alone tourists have been inside the harsh environment of these coastal forests. The train arrived and was at the platform for less than 15 minutes, barely enough time to load our party of 30 people including 8 children! Hundreds of other people scrambled on-board including people who had no seats and found just enough space to pass out for the 9 hour overnight journey.
We arrived in Khulna, dazed and dishevelled, with very little sleep and nightmarish visions of crawly creepies all over our seats. Never again will we buy second class train tickets! I have in the past been on several train journeys to the north of the country and the first class tickets are great, you see so much of the beautiful countryside! We took a van to the port where our ferry awaited – our home for the next 4 days cruising through this piece of paradise on earth.
As we boarded the luxury boat, our weariness started to vanish. The boat set sail and the scenery started changing rapidly. Gone for the ugly factories lining the port, gone were all the big shipping vessels; soon it was nothing but greenery and villages on either side of the river. You could see the village children playing on the banks; you could see the water buffaloes on the fields and river dolphins in the water!
The next three days were filled with forest walks and boat rides through the many creeks of the forest; admiring the unique mangrove vegetation and seeing monitor lizards, snakes, monkeys and abundance of bird life. We walked through a well-marked forest trail to the isolated beaches with armed guards in case we ran into a tiger. We mud bathed along the river banks in nutrient rich smooth clay, always aware that there are crocodiles nearby. We enjoyed breath taking sunsets whilst seeing wild boars and deer on the beach.
I have been here four times now and each experience is different and magical. We would always remember this trip in particular for the train journey from hell to get to a piece of heaven!