I had heard that the Andaman Islands were “insanely exotic,” but my experience there was more like uncovering a “rare time capsule,” said Tony Perrottet in Condé Nast Traveler. The archipelago in the Bay of Bengal is the “least-known, least-populated, and least-visited corner of that sprawling cabinet of wonders, India.” These tiny specks of tropical paradise were actually closed to foreigners until 1995, and even today, only 38 of the 550 islands are open to tourists. In all, 90 percent of the Andamans are protected as national parkland or tribal reserves for the native inhabitants—four tribes among the most isolated on earth. This “place of unearthly perfection, where crabs climb trees, elephants swim, and man has barely left his mark,” would soon be mine to explore.
Shortly after landing in the old colonial capital of Port Blair, I was sunning myself atop a ferry en route to Havelock Island. Though the most visited of the islands, Havelock is still “homespun, small-scale, and personal, like an Indian version of Hemingway’s Key West.” This is a place where the local fishermen double as tour guides and wildlife outnumbers humans. Robber crabs—the world’s largest—climb trees and carry coconuts home to eat. King cobras devour their dinners in the bushes. A 12,000-pound pachyderm, known as Rajan, swims in the bathwater-warm Indian Ocean, using his trunk like a “giant snorkel” as he drifts weightlessly through the waves.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
