Port Blair: pleasant and safe

It must be conceded at the start that the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are arguably the most beautiful parts of India lusciously green, with virgin forests, white, sandy beaches and coral reefs teeming with marine life.

But time, it seems, has stood almost still in this archipelago, a full 1,200km from mainland India, almost on the southern edge of Myanmar.

It has few signs of the economic boom that has gripped major cities on the mainland but also few signs of the hassles of daily life back there.

Port Blair, the scenic administrative capital of the islands, is the main point of entry. You have only two ways of getting to Port Blair — board a ship from Chennai, Kolkata or Vishakhapatnam or take a two-hour flight from one of these three cities.

The ship will take you up to three days to get there. All flights land in the morning and leave Port Blair by afternoon.

No flights are allowed to land or take off after 5pm because of security reasons (there is a major military base nearby).

Tranquil transition

As you will be coming from mainland India, the first thing you will notice in Port Blair is how quiet it is.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are made up of 572 islands, of which only about 36 are inhabited.

The population of the entire archipelago is not more than 300,000 — empty, by Indian standards.

Port Blair is a pleasant and safe place to wander around in. There is no cinema hall or shopping mall, though, and the concept of nightlife is unknown.

In fact, after 6pm, the only thing you can do is sit in front of the TV in your hotel. By 8pm, most of the city is asleep.

The city gets its name from Lt Archibald Blair, an officer of the British East India Company who, in 1788, found that there existed in these remote islands the perfect opportunity to set up a penal settlement and unsuccessfully attempted to colonise the islands.

In 1858, however, the first penal colony of the British Raj was established there. From then, until India gained independence in 1947, the Andamans existed primarily as a convict settlement.

Symbol of nationalism

The main tourist attraction in Port Blair has to be the Cellular Jail, which is to India what Robben Island is to South Africa. In India's collective consciousness, this prison is what the Andamans is all about.

Now a national memorial, this jail-and-torture centre was used by the British colonial officers to house political prisoners from mainland India, which, in those days, included Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

You need at least half a day to explore the grim prison complex and the museum. Come back in the evening for the not-to-be-missed light-and-sound show held daily inside the prison complex.

Just a 15-minute ferry ride from Port Blair, an island awaits your astonished gaze. Now uninhabited and run by the Indian Navy, Ross Island was once a penal settlement which also housed British soldiers and their families.

It was the residence of the chief commissioner of the Andamans and was modelled on the lines of a Scottish village.

It had its own bakery, swimming pool, water plant, printing press, officers' mess, barracks, hospital, church and cemetery.

Gallows of fame

All that remains now, however, are the ghostly ruins of the buildings, being crushed by the overgrown roots of trees.

A 15-minute ferry ride in the other direction takes you to Viper Island, another grim place whose only claim to “fame'' is the monstrous, dilapidated red edifice atop a hillock — it is the only building on the island and it was used as a gallows.

This is where convicts were hanged before the Cellular Jail in Port Blair had been built — and prisoners were executed three at a time.

The most famous person to be executed on Viper IIsland was Sher Ali, a Pashtun from what is today the Northwest Frontier Province in Pakistan, serving a life sentence on the island.

He assassinated the Viceroy of India, Lord Mayo, when he came to visit the island in 1872.

At a time when the Second World War was at its peak in 1942, the Andamans became the only Indian territory to be occupied by an Axis power — Japan.

And torture and executions increased manifold under the Imperial Army. This nightmare for the residents of the islands lasted till 1945, when Japan surrendered.

Back to beauty

Coming back to touring the islands, once you are done with visiting jails and brushing up on their brutal history, it's time to head out by cab (about Dh100 both ways) to Wandoor Beach, 25km from Port Blair. It is an unforgettable drive as you pass through densely forested areas.

The squeaky-clean beach itself is blissfully devoid of tourists. En route, you can also see the devastation wrought on the islands by the tsunami that hit Asia in 2004. Once at Wandoor, look out for the boatmen who offer “coral rides'' for a pittance — the base of the boats is made of see-through fibreglass.

But the best beach near Port Blair is definitely the grandly named Corbyn's Cove. This is also the most tourist-friendly beach, with clean changing rooms and hygienic shower facilities.

Indigenous tribes

Not all inhabitants of the islands are ethnic Indians. There exists a tiny minority — only a few hundreds — of six indigenous tribes: four of them Negritos and two Mongoloid.

Most tourists, however, don't get to see them as obtaining permits to visit the tribal reservations is a lengthy process.

When Marco Polo landed on the islands in the 12th century, he is said to have said of the indigenous inhabitants: “The people are without a king and are idolaters, and no better than wild beasts.

And I assure you that all the men of this island of Angamanaian [Andaman] … eat everybody they can catch, if not of their own race.''

The traveller's allegations of cannibalism were, however, baseless.

Go there ... Port Blair

From the UAE

Emirates and Indian Airlines fly daily via Kolkata.
Fare from Dh4,910

Indian Airlines flies daily via Mumbai and Kolkata.
Fare from Dh4,080

Information courtesy: The Holiday Lounge by Dnata.
Tel: 04 4298576

Where to stay

I stayed at the Fortune Resort Bay, which cost about Dh300 per day, with breakfast included.

Though it is slightly overpriced for the facilities it offers, the rooms are clean and the setting perfect.

Getting there

Almost all foreign nationals require a visa to travel to India, which can be obtained at the Indian Consulate in Dubai (Ph 04-3971222).

Foreigners with valid Indian visas must then secure a 30-day entry permit on arrival at the Port Blair Airport. This permit may be extended for another 15 days.

Getting around

The reliable and relatively cheap private taxis are your best hope, as public transport is woefully insufficient. Port Blair is a small city and people prefer to use private vehicles. Public buses stop operating after dusk.

For inter-island travel, use the ferries that leave from Aberdeen Jetty and Phoenix Bay Jetty. Tickets for a 25-minute ride to Ross Island or Viper Island are priced at Rs60 (about Dh5).