My trip to India is something I will remember all my life. The purpose of our journey was to visit Sunderbans, to explore geographic and socioeconomic conditions of the territory and try to answer the question: “How does climate change affect this place and what are its future prospects?”

Sunderbans is a truly unique place on Earth. Nowhere else in the world would you find such a combination: saline water from the Bay of Bengal surrounds the many islands that are overgrown with mangrove forests. The islands, in turn, are populated with people and abundant wildlife. Each component deserves special description and each will experience the consequences of climate change.

Local fishermen are affected by the decrease in catch and extinction of several species. Villagers grow shrimps in the sweet-water ponds and have been observing the recent decrease in harvest due to rise in temperatures.

Mangroves tolerate saline water. I saw them for the first time in my life and they are really amazing with queer aerial roots that stick out of the ground during low tide. It’s called “nematodes” because their appearance resembles worm-shaped parasites. Recently the locals started to set up mangrove plantations to combat soil erosion.

There are approximately 4 million people in Sunderbans whose main occupation is farming and fishing. The poor soil quality and scarcity of sweet water for irrigation leads to the crops being anything but plentiful. We noticed that people use solar power in all places – and that is something that doesn’t happen in developed counties where people can afford it easily. We visited two villages and the people we met were very hospitable and open. They invited us to share a meal with them despite the fact that they could barely afford it. They have a distinctive culture which includes songs and dances which we were lucky to hear and see. We even got a chance to dance along with them which was quite an experience!

The Sunderbans National Park has been set up to preserve the unique eco-system and especially the Royal Bengal tiger. A visit to the Sunderbans means being on the lookout for the ever-elusive tiger that can appear on the shore or in the water (they are very good swimmers). You can actually feel that this place is the tiger territory – you see the fences that are supposed to prevent tigers from coming into villages, watch-towers for forest observation and you hear amazing stories. For example, when a honey-collector goes into the forest he wears a mask on the back of his head – it is believed that a tiger will not attack from behind, seeing the face drawn on the mask. Unfortunately, we only got to see fresh pug marks from a watch-tower. However, we managed to see lots of birds, several crocodiles and macaques.

This journey opened a whole new world which I never expected to find. Talking to the villagers and seeing the conditions they have to live in arouse deep respect and at the same time drives me to despair. But now, I realize that there are things that each person can do to help these people, even in an indirect way. It could be even little things – like being more eco-friendly and energy-efficient. A visit to Sunderbans as an ecotourist can also be beneficial.