Southern region is famous for many touristic attractions. .Sundarbans is the main attraction of this region. Rather than Sundarbans the other attractions are Kuakata, Sixty dome mosque, Sagardari, Shilaidaha Kuthibari, Shrine of Lalon Shah, Amjhupi, Mujibnagar and many other places.

RIVERS: Padma, Gorai, Kumar, Rupsha, Voirab, Kirtonkhola Shandha, Agunmukha, Modhumoti, Posur, Mathavanga, Arialkha Kalabadar.

MAP :
SUNDARBANS: The sundarbans forest, the largest mangrove forest in the world is situated in the southwest corner of Bangladesh. The area of Sundarbans is approximately 6000sq km. This is the single biggest mangrove forest of the world. The meaning of Sundarbans is “beautiful forest”. This forest is natural habitat of the world famous Royal Bengal Tiger, spotted deer; crocodiles, jungle fowl, wild boar, lizards, rhesus monkey and an innumerable variety of beautiful birds. Migratory flock of Siberian ducks fling across a long distance towards Sunderbans in the time of winter. The only way to go there is waterway. Many rivers and canals crisscross Sunderbans.

Famous spots of Sunderbans are Hiron Point [Nilkomal], Katka, Tin Kona Island, Debaucher and Egg Island.

The Sundarbans

·         Cover approximately 10,000 esq. of land and water. The total area of the Bangladesh Sundarbans is 5,771sq.km (almost 62 percent of the total) – the remaining area is in India,

·         Are a part of the world's largest delta (80,000sq.km) formed by sediments brought down by three great rivers, the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna

·         A distinctive feature of the Sundarbans is the intricate network of interconnecting water channels. Some of these channels can exceed a mile in width.

·         The rainfall and humidity are both high. Most of the rainfall is during the Monsoon season from June to October.

·         It is the world's largest mangrove forest

·         It supports a spectacular wildlife both in terms of numbers and variety – though many species are on the verge of extinction

The Sundarbans are home to:

·         49 species of mammals, including Javan rhinoceros, water buffalo, Ganges river dolphin, swamp deer, gaur, hog deer, spotted deer, wild boar, otter, wild cat, and tiger.

·         315 species of birds including the white-bellied sea eagle, raptors, waterfowl, kingfisher, grey-headed fish eagle Herons, egrets, sandpipers, curlew, and storks. The forest birds found here include woodpeckers, barbets, shrikes, drongos, mynahs, minivets, and babblers.

·         53 species of reptiles and eight of amphibians that include crocodiles, monitors, Indian python, turtle, King cobra, and spectacled cobra.

·         120 species of fish including mudskippers and gobies. Shrimps, prawns, lobsters, and crabs are found in abundance. Bull sharks, Sandbar sharks, tiger shark, Hammerheads, stingray, anchovy are found as well.

·         An insect population including honey- bees.

 The deltaic islands were once inhabited by humans, as shown by archaeological evidence. These human settlements did not survive beyond the 17th century.

Sundarbans provide livelihood to approximately 300,000 people who work as fishermen, wood-cutters, and gather honey, leaves (for roofing), and grass (for matting). Approximately 2.5 million people live in the surrounding villages.

The Bangladeshi and Indian officials are working together to protect the ecology of Sundarbans. The threat to its unique fauna and flora requires more cross-border cooperation. The fact that Sundarbans span both countries does not mean that it has to be managed as two entities. The officials in India and Bangladesh are considering managing it as a single eco-system. Sundarbans need to be protected from pollution, and human encroachment.

GEOGRAPHY:

Geographically, it seems generally agreed that we are focusing on a forest-cum-reverie area of southern Khulna District about 5,800 square kilometers in area (or around 2,200 square miles, 407,000 hectares or 1.4 million acres--see estimates given in the conference papers by. That said, it still remains to delimit a specific area of ethnographic and sociological reference--that is, to locate in space actual human communities of forest users whose activities become the focus of data gathering and analysis. This includes the six southernmost thanas of Khulna District, wherein lies most of the Sundarbans region, and the five most southerly thanas of Pataskala District, where, mostly in Amtali thana.

PEOPLE OF SUNDARBANS:

These thanas contain the settled human communities most adjacent to the Sundarban forests. From the point of view of research strategy, then, one kind of ethnographic and sociological inquiry ought, surely, to focus on the rural villages in this region. Although the people living in them are undoubtedly not the sole users of the forest, it seems highly probable that they do exploit it, and, thus, an understanding of their activities ought to give us a good general picture of how the ordinary rural people of Bangladesh--as opposed to large-scale commercial or governmental operations--relate to the Sundarbans as a resource area. Moreover, these thanas are in the most recently reclaimed area of what were not so long ago much larger forest tracts. Their present-day inhabitants are likely to offer great potential for ethno historical inquiry, which might yield valuable insight into the ways in which the forest was brought under human domination. Moreover, their local culture might present significant variations from that obtaining in Bangladesh more generally; examination of these variations contribute to an understanding of what has happened in the Sundarbans. These considerations, then, underlie selection of the "Sundarbans region" for purposes of this study and serve as a possible, useful starting point for others who might be interested in taking up field research.