LITTLE ANDAMAN - THE LEAST EXPLORED ISLAND

 

It was my second trip to Andaman & Nicobar Islands. During my first trip, I had the opportunity of visiting North Andaman, Middle Andaman, South Andaman and Nicobar islands extensively covering a period of almost one month. However, I did not have chance to visit Little Andaman on account of communication problem.

Incidentally, one of my close friends working in Andaman Public Works Department (APWD) was posted in Little Andaman during the period of my visit and it was a grand invitation from his side to visit Hutbay, the headquarters of Little Andaman.

As scheduled, I along with my family boarded MV Dering, a small ship, connecting the islands that left Ferry Warf of Portblair exactly at eight o’clock at night. We were to cover a distance of 120 km from Port Blair to Hutbay in around eight to nine hours depending upon wind velocity.  

Since it was too early for dinner, we carried the same with us and the seating arrangement was in the form of push back chair.

Since it was night, we did not have the opportunity to have a view of the roaring Phoneix Bay, other than lights of Port Blair gradually fading away as the ship started pitching in deep waters.

We reached Hutbay exactly at five in the morning. My friend was waiting in the jetty with his jeep for welcoming us. It was a smooth ride of around fifteen minutes to APWD guest house located near his official quarters.

After lunch, we had a good sleep compensating the gap of the slumber of the previous night.

In the evening, we had a stroll in the Netaji Nagar Beach within the town and market area to have an overall view of the settlement. It was a small town with basic amenities available and a few government offices and a hospital with minimum facilities. Unlike many other places, there was no power and water shortage in Hutbay. However, the entire island was dependent on the capital for major consumables.

We had a plan of staying in Little Andaman for two to three days so as to cover major sightseeing locations within our total Andaman trip of around twenty days.

Being Saturday, my friend took us along with his family to a distant village where there was Ongi settlement.

We had an experience of seeing massive palm plantation in the island and learnt that a portion of the palm oil consumed in the mainland was supplied by Little Andaman.

The tribe stayed in a village on the seaside within the forest area. The road was muddy and the jeep had to be steered cautiously to avoid being stuck in the loose soil of the village road. On the way, we came across a wild boar and few species of birds.

As we reached the settlement, we were warned by my friend not to take any photograph of our visit as the visit without government permission was strictly prohibited.

We were introduced by my friend with the head of the settlement who was being addressed as “Captain”. The houses were mostly made of bamboo poles and wooden planks, slightly above the ground to avoid moisture and onslaught of serpents and other deadly insects.

We had interaction with the captain as language was a barrier in case of other people and had an idea of their lifestyle, custom and related aspects. It was learnt that they had a marital connection with the tribes of northern Sumatra in Indonesia as the distance between the islands was not much.

We were offered pork and local liquor by the family of the captain and we were glad about their hospitality.

On the way back, we made a visit to a lighthouse overlooking Harminder Bay. Since the caretaker of the lighthouse was known to my friend, we were allowed to climb the main balcony wherefrom we had a panoramic view of the entire beach, forest area and blue waters of Harminder Bay.

It was a beautiful sight from the top of the lighthouse where we could enjoy the mixture of colours of nature viz. blue, green and golden. The sky was clear and the gulls flying around in search of food and cool breeze from the sea soothing our bodies and minds.

It was claimed that the lighthouse was second highest in Asia after Dondra Lighthouse of Srilanka. However, the facts could not be verified as there was no documentary evidence of the same.

The next day, being Sunday, we had the privilege of availing the vehicle of my friend as the office was closed. Our main trip to Butler Bay was more of a picnic than a visit. We had a glimpse of Whisper Waterfalls and White-surf Waterfalls which were also considered as tourist spots of the island

We carried food and beverages with us since nothing was available locally near the beach. We spent the entire day on the beach enjoying every moment as the next day was scheduled for our return journey to Port Blair.

Sea bathing and basking on the beach was part of our programme and we were warned by the local people to avoid some portion of the beach because of the presence of quicksand.

Despite being mid-winter, the temperature beside the sea was enjoyable and cold sea breeze made the environment more comfortable for us. The virgin beach of Butler Bay, with minimum tourist and just one snack joint, was found to be an excellent place to relax for a couple of days.

Though there were arrangements for scuba diving, snorkelling and other water sports, the absence of tourists had forced the services to remain closed.  

However, there was an accumulation of nimbus cloud in the afternoon and it started drizzling in the afternoon. We had to pack up early and return to our guest house.

As we started packing our luggage, we found that the intensity of the rain had increased considerably adding with gusty wind and hailstorm.

The sudden change of the atmosphere put us in anxiety as our ship was scheduled to depart the next morning at around five o’clock.

We were praying for a change of weather condition but by night, the wind speed had accelerated many folds accompanied by heavy rain and frequent lightning.

At around midnight, my friend called up and told that the ship scheduled to leave Hutbay had been cancelled due to bad weather condition and we had to stay back till the situation normalized.

We were in a total dilemma as the next part of our programme at Port Blair would get disrupted. But there was no alternative for us.

We were stuck up in our guesthouse for the next two days and found that the supply of consumables from Port Blair was not possible. As a result, the dwellers inclined to hoard and there was a rush in the consumer stores of Hutbay.

The situation improved on the third day with an occasional depiction of rays of sun and reduction in the velocity of the wind.

It was announced that the vessel for Port Blair would leave next morning if weather condition remained stagnant. However, on account of an increase in passenger traffic, the reservation of seat would not be considered.

My friend, through his official influence, managed to purchase tickets for us and we had a sigh of relief, subject to improved weather condition.

On the fourth day morning, we ultimately boarded the ship, which was packed with passengers, goods, domestic ruminants and birds. It was more of a steamer than a ship with limited space and minimum comfort.

However, our main intention was to return to Port Blair, wherefrom we would be able to avail at least flight to the mainland.

As the steamer started its journey, we found that the waves were rolling on the main deck and at times flying fishes, those jumped on the deck, were grasping to death.

Continuous rolling and pitching made the passengers sick and many people were found to be vomiting and ultimately lying down on the deck being dehydrated.

It was a horrible journey for around eleven hours from five o’clock in the morning to four o’clock in the afternoon dancing through the turbulent waves. It was impossible to consume food because of drastic upward and downward movement of the vessel adding with the sick people all around.

By the time we reached Port Blair, the steamer had turned to be hell with signs of the soiled deck, excreta of animals and birds, wasted food mixed with saline water of the sea.

Our clothes got drenched with splashes of sea waves and our baggage had gained more weight, being soaked in seawater and we were totally exhausted trying to keep ourselves steady in such a terrible situation.

How to Reach

There are regular ferry services from Port Blair to Hutbay. However, there can be a disruption of services due to adverse weather condition. Majority of the ferry does not have an arrangement for sleeping and passengers have to remain satisfied with push back chair system.

There are helicopter services from Port Blair but the same remains booked due to frequent travel of government officials.

Boarding & Lodging

There is only one hotel in Hutbay with basic amenities. The tourists can also book guest houses of government departments keeping in consideration of last-minute cancellation.

There are few stand-alone restaurants where limited varieties of cuisines were available, the majority of which are Indian palate

Major Sight Seeing

The virgin beauty of the island is attracting tourists to remain secluded from the busy world. The sparse and thin population disintegrated human settlement is the major attraction of the island.

The major beaches are Netaji Nagar, Harminder Bay and Butler Bay which remains mostly empty as a limited number of tourists comes to Hutbay from Port Blair because of the uncertainty of communication.

There are two waterfalls viz Whisper and White-surf which are occasionally visited by locals during holidays and picnic seasons but mostly remains empty.   

The movement in the forest area of the island is restricted and requisite permission has to be obtained for entering the protected area.

My Experience

Keeping aside the horrible return journey from Hutbay to Port Blair, it was a nice experience of having an overall view of the lives of the islanders who remained far away from modern cities and towns. They seemed to be satisfied with the minimum basic needs available on the island.

The major attraction of the island was scenic beauty of the beaches that had remained a virgin for decades. With the increase of frequency of the water transport system, few tourists took the venture of reaching the island with an uncertainty of return vessel.

We received the hospitality of my friend but in general, the locals were very much cooperative and supportive.

It was definitely an addition to the kitty of my travel experience where I could visit such a remote place where lives are difficult but that did not wipe the smiles from their faces.

Photo Courtesy: Google