The Andamans: paradise post-tsunami


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Asia » India » Andaman & Nicobar Islands
February 14th 2005
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 #7An elephant on #7An 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
#7 in 'all' its glory#7 in 'all' its glory#7 in 'all' its glory

(courtesy of maxime)
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 IslandLalaji Beach, long IslandLalaji 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.Toilet.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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25th February 2005

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.
17th March 2005

Well written
Great blog. I was supposed to travel to Andaman in Feb, but family persuaded me to choose another place. Went to Agatti in Lakshadweep, which is another beautiful place. Will stubbornly visit Andaman this winter. - vinkash
20th June 2005

andamans
discovered a beautiful place in wandur/wandoor called sanctuary run by a terrific guy called viraj.guy is educated in japan ,australia,NY and france but chooses to live in peace instead.has a gorgeous rotweiler called maya.what a pair and what a place!!check it out.he organises great trips by boat altho his boat seems to be pretty badly ruined by the tsunami.has built cool huts on stilts.owns a nice jeep and may hire out his enfield bike if he's convinced you love bikes.
10th July 2005

Timely Entry !
Hi there , Thank you for this Blog.. ! I feel it is a timely entry .. that would help prospective tourists by subduing their apprehensions. There is so much more in Andamans especially abunduntant pristine LOcalities and Pristine Islands just a boat ride away .. like Lawerence Island , Light House spot etc on havellock Island.. and the Tiny Neil Island where you can rent a hut few meters away for mere Rs 50 ( just about a $ ).. and sleep to the soothing shallw water sounds. And can walk along the different beach stretches just in a matter of Hour or two.. and can find a secluded place if you have a company wand what to spend. And Havellock Island is no exception with the Great a Beach at #11 with Tents rented by the tourist Dept. And if you want to have a Full moon view the place is #3, #5. Actually on a full moon day here the moon looks so big and near .. brightly litting the whole beach and along side cottages.. Its an awesome scene.. when the moon suddenlyt rises on the horizon and chases awway the darkness. ! though it is a bit far from #11 to #3 .. you can rent a Motor-cycle for rs150 ( about $3 ) a day. and if are looking for best snorkling places.. it is here in Havellock Island. renting a Boatman costs you about Rs 500/- ( may be less if you can contact him directly at the village centre, ask for Boatman "Ranjit" ! very cool guy .. he will attend at your sea side guest house at the time you specify.).. I really cant forget the great experiences I had at Havellock Island.. especially the snorkling spots.. ! OHMY how can I forget the view .. when I saw a Octopuss at Lawrence Island when it came in clear readiant Ice-blue colour .. and vanished in just about 35 seconds before I could call my companiaon. Its all prestine and so natural.. even while sitting at #3.. and looking over the nearest Islands.. its breathtaking different shades of blue waters.. as if someone spilled all the blue shades God has with him... the same thing you can observe while on your way to Lawrence ISland.. mangroves.. so many blue shades of waters... and you wont forget the paradise experience for life.. !
2nd June 2006

Smith 1999
Great blog ! I camped on Ross island; adjoined to Smith, for a month in 1999 and was gutted when i heard the islands had been destroyed by the Tsunami. So good to hear that wasnt true, although story of tourists destroying part of Smith is enfuriating and typically western. When i was there it was day trippers only but all you had to do was stay out of the way of one drunken park warden, only about a dozen other tourists there.... You've inspired me to return next english winter and support the economy aswell as enjoying the unique beauty... Ben Wiseman (London)
16th September 2006

Thankyou so much for this truly interesting article. It was nice to read it. We will definitely go to Andamans on our next trip to India... which will be in two months! Yeeei! Wish u all he best and happy travels : )
6th February 2007

Thanks for the info
Great entry. lots of info I wanted but could not find elsewhere. I will spend time learning of the tribes in the andamans apart from lazing around in havelock.
29th May 2007

what the heck !
good blog mate.... but what the heck you mean by " ‘I’m British pal, these are MY islands’" You maybe British dude.... but these Islands arent yours.... Bloody good ridannce to you SNOBS
13th March 2008

racism
hi, am a local here. i just wanted to thank you for this wonderful piece and am a journalist here so we get lots of complaints too about ship schedules and announcements etc, but one point i really wanted to point out was that not everyone here indulges in racism. We comprise of people of everywhere in India. To give a very brief idea, the prisoners brought here as punishment were largely an Urdu speaking lot, and others brought in during that time learned to speak urdu and a derived hindi. For many years, in fact just up untill a few years ago, urdu remained our main language spoken here. While Urdu is largely a north Indian language, my boss, who is a south indian settler here since birth, is an Urdu scholar. so you see, here we come from everywhere but mingle in and adapt happily. The tribes, though, have not been handled or dealt with very well by the government. They have suffered a great deal at the hands of people who did not know how to go about 'breaking the ice' with them. Anyway, all in all, the beaches are worth it...but please don't judge the entire lot of us as racial just because of one charlie ;) keep coming and keep writing
7th March 2009

the anthropolgist's wonderful contribution
in reviving the probably lost tourism in this God's great land of water. Thanks to all who have given this blog site its worth seeing facettes and unveiled the very object of concern "The Andamans" post Tzunami.
26th July 2009

hi
hi could you tell me the prison what the british built there was kala panni and any history regards mike
27th August 2013

India
Enjoyed reading your blog, content and style. Keep on travelling and writing. Am going to India myself end of October, so trying to soak up as much as I can on this in many ways incongruous country.

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