The Andamans: Deeper into the woods

On By mehakkhajuria19In Travel

Well, hello again folks! Apologies for such a delay! Reason being I was on a vacation up there in the north. And I honestly plan to finish writing about Andamans in a couple of more Blogs. :-D.

In the previous of my scribbles, I tried to cover the places one can visit in Port Blair. You must be wondering (and so am I) where on earth are the Beaches in this blog! We’re talking about Andamans, come on! ;-). Show me some water! Exactly, therefore coming up blogs are going to be very watery and salty. :-D. But, but, but please hold your horses before we dive into the grand waters of Bay of Bengal, I really wish to write about the Jarawa safari I mentioned in the previous write-up.

The Great Andaman Trunk Road Safari 

a
The Great Andamans Trunk Road to Baratang Island

The Great Andaman Trunk Road is opened to all tourists in order to visit Baratang Island for its gorgeous Limestone Caves, The Mud Volcano, and The Parrot Island. This safari takes you through the dense forest which is a home to the Jarawa Tribe. Although Baratang Island is a must watch place, but honestly the actual reason to travel through this road is to catch a glimpse of the Jarawa. It is very intriguing to witness an indigenous tribe in this century through your own naked eyes.

b

And to my disappointment, I couldn’t see none of them. But, during the 78 km drive, I managed to see a Jarawa flying arrow dug in the tree trunk. I wish my eyes could click! Just to give you a gist about this 55000-year-old tribe, there are few theories related to their confinement from the outer world (which is us). Few years back tourists were allowed to enter the Jarawa reserves and meet the tribal folks. But few nasty “modern” idiotic tourists have committed such infamous deeds that now the government has barred the tourists from the Jarawas.

c
Jarawa Tribal Children

It is a feeling of morose to express the stories heard from the local folks, that how the women of these tribes were exploited, how few tourists made the women and children chase them and also made them dance for food! They were treated like animals in the zoo. We have no rights to infiltrate and demean their recluse. This has made few Jarawas fateful against the general public. Probably the social recluse was a better state to them.

Baratang Island

d
Baratang Island

Nevertheless moving ahead we reached Baratang Island. This island has beautiful beaches, mangroves, limestone caves, the mud volcanos & the parrot island. After a 78 km long drive we reached Midland Strait, where we boarded a jetty to cross a rivulet to reach Baratang island. The unique thing about this island is, to visit places within this island you either end up going on foot or through water. :-).

e
A Ferry connecting Baratang Island from Midland Strait

And so it was, from Baratang we boarded Nilambur Jetty. It was a sunny yet beautiful half an hour boat ride through the wide mangrove tunnel creek and a further 1.5 km walk through the tropical forests to the Limestone caves.

f
Mangrove Creek

I’m a fan of caves, trust me, I like the earthy cold environment inside, and to see how seldom can people pass through the complicated insides in the caves. :-D. Moreover, the structures in this cave were quite customized. The unique shapes play your eyes and can make you watch whatever you want to. At least, it happened to me, probably I can blame it to my seamless imagination! B-).

G
Limestone Caves
H
Inside the caves. Compression of over million of years.
I
And here goes your imagination!

It was so hot, and the sun glazing above our heads was so bright that we limited our journey to the limestone caves only. But if you are planning to visit Andamans in the apt weather (in the month of Nov, Dec or Jan) then yes, please do visit “The Mud Volcano” & “The Parrot Island” and please do let me know about your experience! :-D.

J
The Mud Volcano
K
The Parrot Island
L
And here’s why it called A Parrot Island

The reason for not completing the blog on Andamans at one go is that I have a  lot to share and I do not want to make it a long read. I hope you enjoy the reads in installments, but I promise to finish the installments in short time intervals. :-). Just FYI (for your information), the coming blog is going to be all about water, sand, more water, corals reefs, yet more water and lot of water!

Stay Tuned! 😀

 

 

 

 

 

 

34 thoughts on “The Andamans: Deeper into the woods”

  14. Gurpreet Kaur

    Another great post on Andamans. Although these islands are small but it seems there is so much to do there. Eagerly waiting for your next post now 😊

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    Reply
  17. Shetanshu dikshit

    Loved the description !! The art of blogging is making the reader hooked so that one can interpret the story in front !! Loved this Mehak 🙂 way to go !!

    Like

    Reply
  19. pooja tiwari

    Amazing Mehak !enjoyed reading. ..beautiful pics ..specily jarawa tribal
    children. ..&mangrove creek …parrots
    i like the most…thanx for writing this blog😊☺

    Like

    Reply
  21. Himani

    Awesome meckuuu! What a lovely fascinating n enlightening read…wow..next destination andamans! Keep the blogs coming..cnt wait to read about water..water…n some more water…lol.. All d best

    Like

    Reply
  24. Priyanka

    Well written Mehak
    The description knitted woth the visuals takes the reader on a beautiful journey.
    Keep writing
    You are master storyteller!

    Like

    Reply

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