Island Time -
nice. After a couple of weeks of South India, it is time for some turquoise
water and white beaches. The Andamans seem to be more than anything like the
islands in Thailand around Krabi, just without the crowds, not yet.
Geographically the islands are closer to Southeast Asia than to India, only
150km from Indonesia and 190km from Myanmar. The islands, and especially
Nicobar which is off limits for tourists, were severly hit by by the boxing day
tsunami. As a result, the dream of a hut straight on the water’s edge is over
as new policies don’t allow any housing straight along the edge.
Today, only
12% of the population remains indigenous and the number is decreasing. Some
remaining tribes include groups like the Onge, Sentinelese, Andamanese, Jarawa,
Shompen or the Nicobarese. Only 150 of the Sentinelese remain mean that
extinction of the tribes is inevitable. As a tourist, you will have to obtain a
special permit at arrival which limits your movement to some major areas and to
30 days. Even the major North-South road is only open for a couple of hours a
day and stopping and photography is strictly forbidden.
Port Blair is
the main gateway to the islands and a place to leave as quickly as you got
there. The ferry to the islands is scary – do not book the more expensive fare
and you will end up in the near windowless coffin-like lower deck of the boat –
but the first impression of Havelock Island is more than rewarding: white
beaches, clear waters and the famous diving elephant ‘Rajan’ (yet to be
discovered). It is Island Time.
