Beautiful Andaman Islands

I have just got back from exploring beaches, wilderness and coral life in the Andaman Islands. This Indian archipelago is not as well known a destination for travellers as Goa or the Himalayas for example, but all the more interesting for it. The chain of islands is remote, relatively undeveloped and boasts spectacular natural panorama surrounded by the clean blue deeps.

I went to Havelock Island, on 'beach number 7' which is said by some to have the best beach in Asia. I won't argue - miles of deep beaches with fine sand, unspoiled by large or concrete development are as good as it gets imho.

There is one main place to stay on beach #7 - the Barefoot resort where I spent three nights. Barefoot is the top of the range for Andamans as a whole and if you need home comforts definitely the place to stay. You will pay for the luxury at around 3 or 4 thousand rupees a night for a hut. It is clean and relative free from bugs & beasties (inside the rooms anyway) and has aircon, beach towels and that type of extras that make the difference. I liked the balcony furniture and the way the resort used as much natural materials as possible. Each room is a separate hut surrounded by trees and wooden paths, with no TV or resort lighting - making it beautifully natural and almost impossible to find without a torch!

There are many other types of accommodation much cheaper I saw a lot of places on beach number 5. These tended to have the same natural feel and were pretty decent for a price under 500 rupees. Bearing in mind that I was there in the off peak season beach # 5 felt like the place to hang out with more life and more of a traveller crowd. Beach #5 was narrower had some mangy but friendly dogs, and less strong tide (better for swimming). The food was also better at these resort (less fussy and less rich than in Barefoot). I had a beautiful lemon ginger chilli grilled fresh fish at Paradise resort.


Trips to the coral reefs are easily organised by the resorts and worth the effort and boat journey - the fish are stunning - I saw shoals of grouper shining and diving in unison, clown fish and many others I can't even name, just from the surface with my rubbishy snorkel! On the journey from the reef at South Button (a small button shaped rock where the fish and coral lie) we saw miles of mangrove growing in the water surrounding uninhabited islands.

The Andaman and Nicobar chain is particularly isolated, running north-south in the Indian Ocean between the mainland subcontinent and Thailand. There a few local people, and some islands have tribes who have no interaction with the outside world. There is a splendid stillness to the evenings and night time, when the wildlife can be heard about any other sound. Frogs are so loud they sound like dogs and the trees in the forest rustle and creak with a life of their own. Lying on a beach in the pitch dark you can see the milkyway and understand the meaning of the term, myriad stars visible each glowing bright enough to form its own halo in a stream of white lights.

Having said all that it was easy to get to the Andamans. With or without an Indian passport / PIO card / OI status, you will need special permit to visit, but this is easily done on arrival at the capital Port Blair, some islands are not open to outside visitors. I flew from Chennai to Port Blair in a couple of hours and took a connecting boat to Havelock Island. From India there are also flights to & from Delhi and Calcutta. These flights are relatively inexpensive, even compared to the 3 day boat trip, but you will need to book from within India.