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Published: February 14th 2005
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We’d planned for months to visit the Andaman Islands, but begrudgingly I had agreed to go to Goa instead. Travel agents in Calcutta were all adamant the Andamans were wrecked, dangerous and overrun with refugees due to the tsunami. This was frustrating, because despite all the misinformation put out by the media. I knew the Andaman Islands were virtually unaffected by the tsunami after having met a returning tourist, and then taking it upon myself to phone several hotels there. It was simply a question of semantics: The Nicobar Islands had been trashed, the Andaman Islands had not - collectively they are called ‘The Andamans’ the media had consistently used ‘The Andamans’ in reports.
On our way to the train station to buy tickets however, we dropped in on the Shipping Corporation of India to canvass their opinion. A boat was leaving tomorrow they said, ‘you can buy a ticket but I must inform you all the tourists have left’. I honestly thought he was going to charge us double!
So we were away, in our own cabin and virtually our own ship. We were apprehensive about our arrival - would we find death and destruction? The closer we
An elephant on #7
this was the only other inhabitant on #7. He was brought here to make a film last year and was left behind because it was too expensive to take him back.
(picture courtesy of maxime) got the more we began feeling guilty and vowed to help out if and where it was necessary. We met some Indian NGOs onboard the ship, they suggested that I could help them with logistics. I told them I had no experience in such matters, but neither did they, they pleaded, the fact that I was qualified and they were ‘mere’ medical students made me more qualified than they. This whimsical plan, however, was doomed to failure since their final destination was the Nicobar Islands and no foreigners are allowed there due to sensitive naval bases.
The Andaman Islands were first colonised by The East India Company in 1789, but with no worthwhile resources to plunder and high incidences of cerebral malaria they beat a hasty retreat. The Islands location in the middle of nowhere meant ships would often seek refuge there in times of strife, only to have their passengers slaughtered by hostile tribes. This became a particular inconvenience to the British and prompted them to build a new port (Port Blair) in the Andamans as a safe haven for ships in distress. The first Indian War of independence in 1857 put a great strain on India’s already
overcrowded prisons, so the British decided to kill two birds with one stone and build a penal settlement for some of India’s most dangerous and high profile revolutionaries. The Japanese occupied the islands during WW2 and afterwards they were handed to newly independent India
The Great Andamanese were the first tribe to be affected by colonisation of these islands. They numbered some 3,000 when the British arrived and were extremely hostile to the presence of the British; a few attempts to dislodge the British ended in predictable failure.
Pacified somewhat they came into more and more contact with civilized society, which further decimating their no.’s due to measles, influenza and TB, along with other western vices like alcoholism, opium addiction and syphilis. In 1969 they numbered just 19 and were moved to a small isolated island in an attempt to save them from extinction.
There are six aboriginal tribes in the Andaman chain. The Great Andamanese (now numbering 38), Jarawas (250), Onges (100) and Sentinelse (100) all located in the Andaman Islands and are of Negrito stock. The Shompens and Nicobarese are located in the Nicobar Islands and are of Mongoloid stock. I had learnt of these tribes
whilst reading newspaper reports after the Tsunami. It claimed some of these tribes had been completely wiped out by the tsunami! This was the saddest story of all for me - entire races wiped off the face of the earth! They’d been living here for over 50,000 years, the Sentinelse and Jarawas are some of the only tribes in the world to know of western civilization and yet shun it, remaining completely unaffected by the ills of the modern world
But fears of their demise were premature. An Indian military helicopter landed on the small North Sentinelse Island with food aid in an attempt to establish contact, but was immediately forced to flee when it came under attack from spears and arrows fired by the Sentinelse! Anthropologists believe the tribes new of the tsunami through folklore. After all they have been living here for a while and this isn’t the first tsunami to hit. Once the earthquake struck they retreated to higher land. In the 1950’s an anthropologist observed:
‘They have acquired botanical and zoological knowledge which seems almost innate and they know of properties in plants and animals of which we are unaware”. Lidio Cipriani.
We couldn’t
see any evidence of destruction when we arrived. The Nicobar Islands had taken the brunt of the tsunami. The Andaman Islands, some 500km north had avoided any major damage. Yet all the usual backpacker hotels were eerily empty. In the evening a group returned from a snorkeling trip - it materialized they were the last remnants of foreign tourists in the island chain, having been here before the tsunami and refusing steadfastly to leave, whilst others had been dragged kicking and screaming to the airport!
The earthquake struck, they told us, on the morning of the 26th followed by a hastily advancing tide, some three metres higher than usual, rather than a tidal wave. Back home the 24hr media hysteria had begun. Europeans began to panic, phone lines were jammed by those looking for missing loved ones and others showing pity for the plight of the nearly quarter of a million dead. Word came from the highest authorities in India to evacuate all foreign nationals from the Andaman Islands in order for the Indian govt. to gain an accurate assessment of the missing and appease western govt.’s concerns.
Ben and Matt’s story is an example of the confusion
that ensued. Isolated on the small tropical island of Smith in the far north of the Andaman chain they had witnessed both the earthquake and tsunami. But with no access to the media they remained blissfully unaware of its impact, they stayed for a further ten days amid a cloud of sweet smelling smoke until they were ‘rescued’ by the Indian authorities.
During their time on Smith, the Indian govt. had declared them missing; the British media had jumped on the story and many people back in England believed they were dead.Upon returning to Port Blair they couldn’t believe how much of frenzy their ‘disappearance’ had created back home ‘we can’t quite believe all the hype surrounding the tsunami’ Ben said ‘people die in places like Bangladesh all the time and it never makes the headlines’ Check out the announcement of their ‘rescue’ on the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/4147177.stm
Taking everyone’s advice onboard we headed to Havelock Island and beach #7, apparently Time Magazines ‘best beach in Asia’…
Imagine a forest populated by mature trees over 10 metres high, light flickering through their canopy, bathing the floor in dapples of light. A slight breeze compliments the shade, providing a cooling
refuge from the tropical sun. At the edge of the forest an abundance of light nurtures an area of vigorous vegetative growth. Beyond which, a dazzling expanse of aqua-marine sea and white virginal sand, curves effortlessly away... past not a solitary soul. The wonderful trick about this beach is that even though these islands are situated a long way from the mainland there is no notion of exposure, the sea literally laps against the white sand. Stepping onto the sand, it feels comfortably warm, with the texture of flour, almost sticky toward the water’s edge. Out in the sea looking back toward the beach, you see a strip of white sand clothed in tropical evergreen, rising from the deep blue sea hundreds of miles from anywhere, no man or man-made structures.
The only accommodation still open for business at #7 due to a lack of i.e. NO tourists was at Jungle Resort, which usually caters to wealthy Indian tourists. A luxury cottage usually costs 4,000rp and without haggling (honest) we got it for 400rp (5quid!) per night. The place was all ours until Maxime arrived😉 We knew there was another tourist in the Andamans. Ben and Matt had sent
Lalaji Beach, long Island
by this time we were pretty blasé about beaches and this one just wasn't good enough ...oh if only you could see my pictures from #7 ;-) him off to Smith. He was the ‘Swiss’ (French variety). We’d been expecting him! After nearly a week in paradise we summoned the energy to visit a nearby beach for some snorkeling and a day trip to Inglis Island. Then after two weeks of top-draw relaxation, the urge (albeit now a rather diluted) to explore the Andamans further became strong enough for us to drag ourselves away from #7.
Every hotel on the island was full before the tsunami and It’s not difficult to see why the island of Havelock is so popular with tourists. Bangladeshi’s compromise the main population: and I can’t think of a nicer bunch of people to live in paradise. Walking along beach #5 one day a word kept playing through my mind ‘ridiculous’. It was really sooo beautiful, the sea was the lightest neon green colour I have ever seen, how did we manage to get all this to ourselves? We spoke to many people on Havelock about the lack of tourists. The economy of the island is now 90% dependent on tourism. Although this is a recent phenomenon, 5 years ago tourists were still thin on the ground. Most local people seem to
have taken it in their stride, whereas hotel owners are pulling their hair out!
Taking Ben, Matt and Maxime’s advice we headed 12hrs north by ship, and with more permit dodging antics we managed to cajole a boatman into taking us the last few kms over to Smith Island. A few ‘Eco-huts’ had been set up on the edge of a village, in a half-hearted attempt to create an ‘Eco village’. Though due to a ban on tourists here for over two years (of which we then were unaware) they’d had just 12 visitors in all that time.
Smith is no less beautiful than #7. This is the destination for those looking for that ‘Robinson Crusoe experience’, but ironically due to the tsunami, the presence of a few villages fishing and washing cows on the beach meant it was more crowded than #7!
After only two days on the island 3 bigwigs and half a light infantry division raided us. Nobody was allowed to stay on the island ‘not even Indians’ they said - because a few years back tourists had come here and made the place into their very own ‘Beach experience’. Running around naked scaring
the villages, leaving litter, and culminating in the destruction of a large part of the forest by fire. Enough was enough; this being a very fragile environment with many endemic species. The ‘Eco-village’ was illegally built they informed us and a court case was ongoing to close it. Ok, ‘But why the light infantry division?’ I enquired. ‘To protect you from Burmese terrorists!’ was the reply.
Arriving back on the mainland, sipping hot chai with our captures ‘Earthquake!’ one shouts. ‘Where?’ I ask quizzically ‘Here, now, look!’ the guy points to an electrical cable swaying gently in the breeze. I wasn’t convinced! In our time in the Islands there were apparently over 100 tremors above five on the Richter scale. I never felt one - though in fairness, the amount of time we’d spent on boats in that time meant I could probably perform River Dance on a giant Jelly!
Now with time to spare we went Island hopping… The main towns in the Andamans look a lot more exotic on the map than in real life, though still extremely relaxed by Indian standards. They are mostly inhabited by people from mainland India brought here in the late 60’s
Toilet.
Long Island in India’s ‘colonisation scheme,’ who were given free land and timber as incentives. The population of the Andaman Islands is now over 300,000 (compared to 500 tribals). The reason for this colonisation is the location, The Andamans still have no worthwhile economic value but their location make them very valuable indeed for the Indian govt. and 300,000 Indian nationals gives them justification to defend it.
After spending a short time in Diglipur we headed south to Mayabunder, and stuck around long enough to talk to some Burmese ‘Karen’ people, who had originated in Central Asia over 4,000 years ago before moving slowly south to Burma over the centuries. The British had brought them here in the 1920’s to help work the land and here they had stayed. We spoke to a rather proud older woman who claimed "I" as an Englishmen had bought her family here and boasted that now they were doing really well for themselves - her daughters were all doctors. When I raised the question of Burmese terrorists with her, she agreed that yes there were some: they came and stole fish and lobsters from some of the northern Islands!
We stopped over at Long Island
with the intention to camp on Lalaji Beach, but this we discovered was also now illegal. Then we met a tourist! Frederick the Swede. A Swedish media company had paid for Frederick to fly out here and cover the aftermath of the devastation. He reported back ‘err… one women had a heart attack and there was a crack in my hotel room wall…?’ They said they didn’t need any more updates from him😉 but now he was here and was going to spend a month camping on Lalaji Beach.
Frederick had been coming here for over 10 years and completed his anthropology thesis on the Jarawas -though strangely in all his previous time here had never met a single one. Ironically this time on the bus ride up he’d seen nine. Two had even tried to board the bus! Times had certainly changed. The Indians, he said, had given them food and underwear, in the belief the tribes were naked because they didn’t know how to make clothes.
We personally avoided this road out of some petty protest. The Indian govt. had built it straight through the Jarawas land though since this is an island chain; it serves
no practical purpose that cannot be fulfilled by shipping. A few years back a Jarawa boy broke his leg out on the road and was taken to a hospital by a passing vehicle - once healed he returned and apparently told his tribe the people driving up and down that road were actually rather friendly. As a result they began to come out of the jungle as the buses passed by. On seeing these scantily clad "primitives" the buses would stop and the Jawara would be showered in Y-fronts and samosas. This resulted in a measles epidemic killing many. There are only about 250 Jarawas left and their very existence is severely under threat. Perhaps if they were Pandas they would be treated with more respect?
On a boat trip between islands I got to speaking to an Indian photographer working for an NGO. As we watched the sun setting over the virgin jungle he asked me where I was from. ‘England’ I confessed ‘Ahh’ he swept his hand across the horizon ‘ These are your Islands’ ‘No’ I laughed ‘These belong to the Jarawas’. He’d never heard of them, I explained and then he added quizzically ‘Do you think I could go and take some pictures of them?’
More island hopping to ‘Neil’ and the discovery of three more tourists! It was estimated that now there were about 10 tourists on the islands. It seemed the only tourists willing to ‘brave’ the Andaman Islands were those who had been many times before or held Indian residence permits. Back in Port Blair we met a German tourist who’d just arrived from Calcutta on the ship, he said that despite being told by various travel agents the place was wrecked he’d spoken to some tourists who were here during the tsunami and they’d convinced him to come. Sounded familiar!
We visited the anthropological museum in Port Blair to learn more on the indigenous people and I'm embarrassed to say I was extremely excited to see a Great Andamenese woman (She one of only 38 left in the world). So small and dark she resembled a pygmy in stature and appearance despite wearing a yellow sari. I was so enamored that I was terrified of talking to her...is this what it is like to meet a famous person that you've raised upon a pedestal and idolized?
I asked my hotel owner about donating some blankets and clothes to the Nicobarese people in the South who'd been devastated by the Tsunami. He was visibly outraged "why don’t you give that stuff to me?", he said "those ‘junglees’ won’t even know what to do with a blanket!", he continued "they come here as refugees getting free money from the government - we’ll never get rid of them!"
His response shocked me. Racism is rife here towards the aboriginal. Though in fairness his comments would nowadays probably get him elected in most European countries. I had an urge to say "You know what ‘I’m British pal, these are MY islands" …And you know in a way, after the last month, it felt like they had become part of me.
Today I leave for Madras, and tomorrow the tourists are ‘allowed’ back, but I doubt they’ll be coming - maybe next year?
P.S. I have to apologise for the length of this blog, I was going to split it into two but I lost all my wonderful pictures from Havelock after my girlfriend smashed my laptop. We have now parted after over six years together.
If you can’t be happy here, where can you be?
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anonymous
non-member comment
Thank you
This was a terrific blog entry. I just wanted to thank you. I am doing research for a possible trip in September, and you addressed many of the items about which I was curious -- with a pleasant and astute approach. Thanks again. -- DLW - David W.