Bangladesh is shrinking

No Bengal tiger hunting for me. Due to a complete lack of tourists, my tight schedule, and my stubbornness to never, ever call ahead to try and arrange things, the Sundarbans are a “no go.” Instead I’ll be heading to Kuakata beach on the Bay of Bengal.

My main reason for going on this excursion south of Dhaka is to explore the delta region’s extreme susceptibility to sea-level rise. A few feet rise would displace millions. Bangladesh is the world’s most densely populated country. Any loss of land would be devastating.

I traveled to Khulna via an 80-year-old paddle boat. The farther south we got the more flooding we saw. Houses were islands, fields were ponds, and walking paths were bridges.