Advertisement
Published: August 7th 2007
Edit Blog Post
point beach
neil island, andaman islands May 2007 the beginning of the Monsoons
(Before you begin to read this, remember that the internet can mislead you - paradise is the comfort of home looking at those beautiful pictures of a remote palm fringed island! also have a look at the tips at the bottom of this story) We flew from Chennai/Madras the city of tall trees, to Port Blair, South Andaman, the capital of the Andaman Islands.
We left hot sunshine and the luxurious skyscraper pool deck of the Raintree Hotel in Madras/Chennai for muddy rain soaked tracks on South Andaman and its insect haven 'Eco hotel'
The aeroplane coasted round towering cumulus nimbus and dropped through air pockets before aqua planing the Port Blair airstrip.
Eco Hotel awaited us... the slick photos from the website confirmed artistic license and ignored cockroaches, dirt and bleakness. however, we had a day only in Port Blair and planned to drop off a parcel at the post office and collect a boat ticket before doing a quick day tour of the prison, viper island, and the anthropological museum.
A taxi driver and his brother taxi driver took us to get tickets for a boat
the pier
neil island, andaman island to Havelock Island. With their help which involved 1.5 hrs of pushing and queueing we managed to get 2 tickets on the Kamorta to Neil Island as all had sold out to Havelock! Onto the post office where we wanted to post excess baggage home. This process required weighing the baggage, visiting a material shop for white calico, measuring out a piece to put the baggage in, going to a tailor, having this stitched into a pillowcase, inserting the baggage, stitching it up...back to post office, writing address onto it, melting red sealing wax onto the joins, queuing up, sending it... it was now 4pm and we were hungry and tired so spent the rest of the day visiting a restaurant, buying supplies for our trip tomorrow 5am, and returning to Eco insect Lodge. We never got to see the sights of Port Blair but we thankfully did not spend another day there!
The following morning was bleak, Rick was ill and it was raining, the Kamorta set off through the squall.
Two hours later the engines blanked out, we lolled around on the sea for a while and then power was resumed. Four hours since leaving PB we
limped into a harbour. It didnt look like the paradise we had been promised by the beautiful pictures we had see of the Andamans!
I asked a fellow traveller where we were. He said: "Port Blair Port Blair now we go Jolly Boy".
Kamorta had kamorted and we were back in Port Blair... We were herded onto a ship called the Jolly Buoy. This was clean and fast and within the hour we were frollicking past palm fringed beaches to the jolly sound of the ship's horn. On a long thin pier with turquoise waters on either side we were met by a friendly pair who whisked us off in an autorickshaw.
We went to one of the Island's four camps. This we later discovered was the most remote and picturesque. Down a thin track the autorickshaw squeezed between towering Mowha (similar to Mahogany) Trees. Into a clearing with tropical plants, hibiscus, bouganvilla, orchids. The Pearl Park. We were the only visitors. Our cottage was charming, (we shared this with insects of all descriptions) and we could hear the rhythm of the waves nearby. We walked down a path through the Mowha forest to the beach. It was
beautiful and reminded us both of east africa. Turquoise sea and white sand. Warm air and the sound of exotic birds from high above.
Paradise...or so we thought!
We got bitten 150 or more times by the sandflies, the only place free from these, we discovered, was the point on the island which was windswept and which was near Pearl Park, this is where Rick built a shelter and where we spent days swimming, Rick built a coral wall, I collected shells which we tied together and made mobiles with them and hung them from trees along the beach. Other days we hired a bike from Pearl Park and cycled around the island, the north had a fine golden beach and along the way you can buy coconuts to drink coconut milk out of, there was a restaurant - a table and two chairs under a tree - called Prince Restaurant. We had the fine fare of coconut fish curry and curried crab. The best meal we had in the Andamans. Accompanied by fresh mango juice. Nearby another beach where we strung up a hammock and swam in the sea. The only downfall was the
life's a beach!
rick relaxing after building our shelther and dry coral wall to protect shelter from spring tides! ladycook's 25yr son who would not leave us alone! He seemed lonely. The food was good but he scared us off! On the way back to the village we passed the island's power plant, two rows of solar panels. This seemed to provide power for the whole island. This explained the occasional fluctuation in power. We wondered what it would be like in 'season' with tribes of Israeli, hordes of europeans and the boatloads of mainlanders arriving. How did the island cope?
Another beach had a 'bridge' of coral and this was reached along the beach from the point at low tide. Here we met four young children who were playing with a collection of syringes they had picked up on the beach complete with needles. We explained that these were very bad and so they threw them away into the bushes. Perhaps they would pick them up again after we left, to resume playing with them. The one downside of the island was the constant threat of these syringes being washed up on the beach along with packets and phials of medicine. Possibly thrown overboard? So we wore flip flops all the time and were careful swimming.
The village had a post office and a school, a market and various dukas (shops). You could buy chai and masala tea in the dukas, nearby the fishmarket and the jetty. The island was charming and unspoilt. We stayed there a week and saw two birdwatchers, a young american whose bicycle chain had come off, a couple, and two lone male travellers. Not forgetting the family from calcutta. The mother who shouted at us "what do you think of me!" when we looked at her! Loud and in your face! We basically had the place to ourselves. the islanders were friendly yet not overfriendly. Naive in a way. Sadly there was a tree which was chopped down when we were there, it must have been a couple of hundred years old. A Mowhar. Used to build a lean to for more of us tourists.
Most places were being fixed and rethatched with palm leaves, in time for the next season. It was a quiet time in a quiet place, a good place to regenerate! Between treating insect bites!
Onto Havelock
The Jolly Buoy reappeared and we hopped on towards Havelock.
At each point of entry you are asked for Indian visa, Andamans Permit.
We wondered what the reason was for this. Perhaps the military state of Burma was too close for India's comfort and this was a way to keep a check on all people entering or leaving. We soon discovered that a possible reason was the disappearance of a young German backpacker last year. Now the authorities wanted all tourists to be accounted for. The backpacker was never found, some say he was doing a "Robinson Crusoe", others say he drowned. In all events his memory lives on with Indian bureaucracy and German efficiency. May he rest in peace and may we all be careful on our travels. Then we found out that China had acquired an island close by and that is why Havelock is an Indian naval base.
One thing we found when we left Havelock, only too late though, was that if you dont feel like joining the scrum for a ticket out of there, find a trustworthy person and pay them some money to buy tickets for you. That saves you several unpleasant hours of rucking and stress!
Another tip: watch out for the peeping tom on beach number 6/7 (Radanaga beach) Havelock Island, who hides in the tree like tarzan spying on you. Ladies be warned and all others watch your bags etc on this beach.
The bank on Havelock seems only able to change foreign money into Indian money when the exchange rate is in their favour, change money on the mainland if you want to save a few dollars.
Watch out for snakes on the road and if you see one try and go around it rather than run over it as it may get stuck in your wheel spokes
SANDFLIES ON BEACH NO. 7 !!!!!!! Bon voyage!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.188s; Tpl: 0.024s; cc: 5; qc: 43; dbt: 0.0381s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb