Blogs from Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, India, Asia

Le Andamane, isole sperdute nelle acque dell'Oceano Indiano a tre giorni di navigazione dalla terraferma (o due comode ore di volo, ma cosi' non vale...); e' qui che decido di concedermi un paio di settimane di meritato riposo lontano dai rumori e dagli odori della madrepatria, certo che qui, lontano da tutto e da tutti, la natura sia riuscita a mantenersi protagonista incontrastata, resistendo all'avanzata del progresso e di tutto quello che ne consegue. Ma sara' ancora cosi'? Marco Polo, nel suo leggendario viaggio in Oriente verso la fine del tredicesimo secolo, descriveva come "cinocefali" i suoi abitanti e, seppur senza arrivare a tanto, di prima persona nel non lontano 2010 ebbi occasione di incrociare alcuni degli ultimi rappresentanti del popolo Jarawa che, sprezzanti delle regole e di chi le impone, sbucarono fuori dalla foresta per ... read more

The following is a plea I have written to the Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. I have not yet received a reply. He is not in the islands. Nor are his advisors or personal secretary anywhere near him. The Chief Secretary and Revenue Secretary have been given orders by him to travel across the islands between the 12th and the 14th of October. The High Court is closed on the 12th, which is the date I am expected to vacate a land that has come to become part of our family. I sit here helpless. No amount of hard work, or acquired skill can help me in a land rendered lawless by its own government. A land I have grown up on, a land that has possibly played a very large role in ... read more

the year 1984, with our very close family friends we decide to fly to Port Blair in Andaman islands. The Harshavardhana is the equivalent of a cruise ship which used to sail to Port Blair but it would have taken longer and as dad cannot take such a long leave we fly down. at the airport we are excited to be flying and still remember spotting a ravi shastri look alike who we would later on discover at port blair. more on that later. i was 11, budding into my teens. there was some confusion in our young minds about vegetarian and non-vegetarian food and we arrived at a smallish airport and drove to Meghapode or that's what I think the name of the guest house was. We had a room over the dining area and ... read more

Our experiences on short tour of Andamans. We planned a short vacation to Andamans Islands during Diwali festivals - 2012. After exploring various options on the net, we settled for tour package by MakeMyTrip. MakeMyTrip has typical Andamans package of 5 nights that includes 3 nights in Port Blair and 2 in Havelock Island. We decided to cut one night in Havelock. It wasn't a bad decision. Andaman – Nicobar is a chain of more than 530 islands (some very badly damaged in 2004 tsunami) spread over 700 km, approximately 1500 km from Chennai / Kolkata. Only about 36 islands are inhabitated. Port Blair is the main town in Andaman. Nicobar is much less frequented by tourists. Port Blair can be reached by air via Chennai or Kolkata. Boat service is available but takes too long ... read more

PORT BLAIR, SOUTH ANDAMAN ISLAND, ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS. Monday 12 March, 2012. Today we woke up and thought we had died and gone to hell. What a DUMP! Our 'hell' was the Andaman and Nicobar Island groups far out in the Bay of Bengal. They are part of India but this archipelago of 300 ish coral islands is very remote, lying closer to Myanmar, Thailand and Sumatra than to India. The peoples of the Andamans and Nicobars are quite distinct from those on the Indian mainland. Until the 17th century they were populated almost exclusively by several distinct tribes having different characteristics, traditions and languages. Since the 17th century they have been colonized by newcomers from both sides of the Bay of Bengal and by the British. As a result, the aboriginal tribes, some of ... read more