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The Unseen Ganges

A trip down the backwaters of the world's most revered river

By Nick Gates

December 1^st, 2018

THE SUNDARBANS

The world's largest delta. A massive mangrove wetland of ephemeral islands constantly shaped by the massive volume of water passing down from the Ganges-Brahmaputra river system. Home to one of the world's largest single population of tigers and over four million people (across both India and Bangladesh).

If you visit the Sundarbans - and want to see anything beyond the usual tourist route - be prepared for mud. Lots and lots and lots of mud!

village life

A rice paddy. Life in the Sundarbans is quite divided between those who have land (the farmers) and those who don't (the fishermen and women).

I couldn't resist the chance to hold a rat snake caught by a brilliant herpetologist friend of mine.

morning market

wild sundarbans

There were butterflies everywhere, on every island.

Heading north to bihar

The road between the Sundarbans and Kolkata is lined with thousands of aquaculture ponds growing on a wide variety of different fish species. - all feeding West Bengal's insatiable appetite for fish. Heading north, the landscape shifted from aquaculture back to farmland. Bihar is one of the poorest states in India and one of the least visited by tourists. The people were some of the kindest I met on my trip.

silk farm

the coal men

A powerful t-shirt. I'd like to take this around the world.

ingenuity

sustainabili-tea

Street life

Wild Kahalgaon

WILD ROADSIDES

Heading on upriver, we drove for hours and hours through farmland. Despite the apparent lack of wilderness, the diversity of wildlife hidden amongst the farmland was astonishing.

A bank mynah looking for scraps at a roadside food stop

A pair of sarus cranes - the tallest flying bird on the planet

Lesser adjutant storks were fairly common throughout Bihar and into Uttar Pradesh

A nilgai or blue bull - the largest antelope in India

WEST TO VARANASI

Varanasi is the holiest city on the holiest river. This metropolis is famous for a tradition of pushing burning bodies out onto the river - a practice which no longer occurs. Instead, bodies are cremated on the banks of the river at one of the two 'Burning Ghats'. There are 88 ghats in total along the north bank of Ma Ganga (as the river is known to Hindus) in Varanasi. This was the most tourist-trodden part of my trip - but I tried to find unseen corners of this well-seen city.

Many Hindus believe that if you die in Varanasi, you end the cycle of reincarnation (samsara) and achieve moksha. Being burnt on the banks of the river and having your ashes scattered in Ma Ganga is a dying wish of many.

the money fishermen

One million haircuts

pack life

kanpur

Nothing can prepare you for Kanpur. You'll read about the pollution, you'll hear about the tanneries. But seeing and smelling it is a whole new story. This is upstream from Varanasi - where thousands of people are drinking from the river every day.

'Save Our Environment'. The message on the gates of this tannery was truly perplexing.

The outflows

Half treated water going straight onto a farmer's fields. Kanpur was once a booming flower producer. Its fields are now almost infertile.

A heron lies dead on the riverbank downstream of the tanneries. Cause of death unknown.

Incredibly, I found some otter tracks in the mud. Otters have surprisingly little body fat, so perhaps the toxins that are inevitably present in the fish here can't build up to a lethal dose.

The LOWER HImalaya

The final part of my journey was following the river up into the foothills. Instead of following the main arm of the river, I followed the Ramganga - a key tributary - through Jim Corbett Nature Reserve and up into the Himalaya.

sand miners

Fresh tiger tracks. We heard a local female tiger calling for a mate for over two days near our camp.

JUNGLE CAMP

A WILD SNAPSHOT

The river in the mountains was the most pristine I had seen the whole river. There were plenty of golden mahseer in clear water pools. Otter scat and spraints were common - in fact a family of smooth-coated otters erupted out of this pool whilst I was taking this photo and shot off downstream. The ibisbill is one of the most sought after species amongst birders - we were lucky to have a pair walk under a bridge we were crossing! A true mountain species - the Himalayan goral - reminded us that we really were in the Himalaya.

After thoughts

I hoped you've enjoyed this photo diary. Almost every photo was shot on my 'baby Nikon' - the D5100 - and most are entirely unedited. If you get a chance, I highly recommend you try to visit some of the lesser seen parts of the Ganges. In my opinion, Bihar in the north east has the most to offer for the traveller looking for interesting new stories that won't have been seen in the mainstream media.

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Footnotes

Thank you to all the kind locals who were happy to show me their way of life, open their homes, share their meals and give me an insight into the extraordinary cultures along the banks of the Ganges.

Button Label

FootNotes

Thank you to all the kind locals who were happy to show me their way of life, open their homes, share their meals and give me an insight into the extraordinary cultures along the banks of the Ganges.