Mangrove Channels

Mangrove Channels is an original illustration set in Sundarbans Delta, Bangladesh. It lies in the tropics, where the climate is tropical savanna — a pronounced dry season.

Dense mangrove walls stand on arched prop roots above exposed mud. A slender wooden boat passes with a smoking clay pot at its bow. Spotted deer stand at the water's edge, and the low-water channel is hot and humid under bright light.

Why do mangroves grow roots that stick up out of the mud?

Prop roots hold the trees upright in soft mud while breathing tubes reach above the tideline — a specific adaptation to salt water and no oxygen in the soil. Mangrove on this scale means a large river delivering sediment into a warm sea. The smoking pot is a working detail: honey gatherers use smoke, and they travel by boat because there is no ground to walk on.

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