My wife and me visited Bangladesh in the course of an epic foot-train-car-bus trip covering almost the entire length of  the Holy Ganges. Finally we came to Bangladesh.

Three great rivers, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Megna, form the greatest river delta on earth and outpour into the Bay of Bengal, each after a long descent from the Himalayas. In this empire of water dozens of aged paddle wheel steamers with heavily fuming chimneys ply the rivers. We went three days on one, absorbing the lives of the guarded Bangladeshis on the river. Our Steamer was crowded like Fifth Avenue shortly before Christmas, many escaped claustrophobic squueze by climbing the roof. Other desperatly even went to the engine room exchanging the squeeze with a deafening noise. The days aboard started with a prayer where every passenger bowed towards Mecca. And the days ended with a prayer. In between there was lots of gaggling and of course cooking on dozens of makeshift kitchens on the flloor. Naan Roti, samosas, Prawn Malai curries.

At the southern end of the delta, where we could already smell the salty air of the ocean, we reached the mangroves of the Sundarbans which the steamers of course could not enter. We continued on a small fishing boat. After a while, we walked on foot through the mangroves, accompanied by a guide. We hoped to spot one of the beautiful Bengal Tigers. After listing to the explanations of our guide “hope” became a kind of euphemism, and, well, turned into, hmh, at least uneasiness. Unfortunately, our guide was explaining, these particular tigers in the Sundarbans were not just beautiful but for several reasons more aggressive than tigers elsewhere. He even called them “Killing machines” because the water so close to sea were relatively salty. In all other habitats, tigers would drink fresh water. Understandably the saltiness of the water was putting them in a state of constant discomfort, leading them to be extremely aggressive. Furthermore, the high tides in the area were destroying the tiger’s urine which normally would be serving as territorial markers. Thus, the only way for a tiger to defend its territory was to physically dominate everything that enters. 

Us, too? Humans, he said, would travel through the Sundarbans on boats mostly gathering honey and fishing, would make for easy prey.: When a fisherman for example halted quietly waiting for the fish finding their way into his net the tiger would misled him for a typical prey animal. At least 10 fisherman and honey gatherers are said to die every year thanks to tigers’ appetite for human flesh.

Every time when I am not happy with my job, I think of these man who face these beautiful killing machines in the Delta on a daily basis.