United News of Bangladesh

When the European Union’s Ambassador, HE Michael Miller, stepped into the Sundarbans this April, he arrived not as a diplomat on a scripted tour, but as a man ready to be humbled. By the time he left, the forest had etched itself into his memory—not just as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but as a place where tigers, honeybees, and people weave a story of survival that defies the odds. From April 12–14, Ambassador Miller and his family—his wife, Philippa Wood, and their children, Katarina and James—embedded themselves at the WildTeam Conservation Biology Centre (WCBC), affectionately known as TigerHouse, built with the support from the IUCN’s Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Programme (ITHCP), funded by German Cooperation and KfW Development Bank. The Millers didn’t just observe; they listened, tasted, and, at times, held their breath. At TigerHouse, the Ambassador and his family met the unsung guardians of the Sundarbans: The Village Tiger Response Team (VTRT). These are ordinary villagers trained to do extraordinary. When a tiger strays into human settlements, they don’t reach for guns; they reach for sticks, ropes, nets, and hard-won expertise to guide the big cat home. Bangladesh: A trip across the tides