Kolkata: The West Bengal Forest Department has announced a two-day complete shutdown of tourism activities in the Sundarbans Tiger Reserve (STR) on December 11 and 12 to facilitate the 2024 Royal Bengal Tiger census. During this period, no tourist entry, boat safaris, or cruise operations will be permitted, ensuring an uninterrupted and accurate population count of the iconic big cats.
According to an official directive issued by the STR administration, all online bookings for the two days will remain suspended. The Forest Department has stated that this temporary closure will allow researchers and field officials to focus exclusively on scientific data collection.
A senior forest officer said the census would involve the deployment of 1,484 camera traps across approximately 4,100 square kilometers of mangrove terrain — the world’s largest continuous tiger habitat. The cameras will remain active for about a month, capturing movements of tigers and their prey species. The data collected will then be analyzed to determine the actual number of tigers in the reserve.
Our aim is to ensure complete scientific accuracy. Restricting tourism temporarily allows our teams to operate without human disturbance,” the official said.
For the first time, the Forest Department will use a dedicated mobile application enabling field officers and forest guards to upload real-time photographs and GPS-tagged data directly to a central database — a step expected to enhance transparency and efficiency in the census process.
In addition to tracking tiger populations, the census will also record prey species such as spotted deer, wild boar, and goats to assess the ecological balance within the reserve.
The previous census, conducted in 2022 and published in late 2024, reported 101 tigers in the Sundarbans — a rise from 88 tigers recorded in 2018. Of these, 80 were found in the core STR area, while 21 were located in the South 24 Parganas Forest Division.
The tiger census in the Sundarbans is conducted every four years, with smaller regional surveys taking place annually. Preparations for the current operation are already underway, with 250 trained forest personnel set to begin camera installation on November 26.
Officials have assured that normal tourism activities will resume immediately after the census period concludes.
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