Sunrise in Mayabunder

After a scintillating night, nothing in this world was going to stop me from waking up early to catch the glorious sunrise. Here it is, one of the golden moments !! I am going to visit this place.. soon.. and this time on a full moon night..

Mayabunder.. What a view!!

This is the observation canopy attached to the APWD Guesthouse in Mayabunder, the headquarters of the newly formed Middle & North Andaman district. Needless to say, the view is breathtaking.. One can see a smattering of islands, Avis Island being the most sought after for its beautiful coral reefs.. Spending hours under this canopy, listening to the gentle waves splash alongside.. It was heaven!!

How about Butterflies??

My visitors have to put up with my obsession to upload photos and more photos..but you cant blame me. The place IS enchanting. So is the flora and fauna... No wild animal, though in the Islands.. Maybe i get a chance to see the Sea Cow (Dugong) some time soon..

Flora & Fauna of Andamans

A wild flower on the roadside near Kadamtala, enroute to Mayabunder.. and another seen in the PWD guesthouse.. I request the viewers to give me the names of these flowers if they had come across them earlier. Also, viewers may offer their comments about the blog and anything else they wish to see about Andamans. ..Bye...

Ross & Smith Islands

This is the Smith and Ross twin-islands at the northern most tip of Andaman group of islands. They are connected by a sand bridge which is visible in the low tide. One can walk across this bridge to reach the other island. This foto was taken from the Smith island, as the high tide was setting in. Note how the waters from both ends cut across the divide, meeting each other eagerly....

Water, water everywhere....

I guess one cannot find fault with me if I was a trifle scared wondering where this chap is going to land. There are 572 of them in all, big and small islands spread over a distance of about 700 kms. in the Bay of Bengal.
The islands have an average annual rainfall of about 3200mm. But, there is always acute water scarcity, throughout the year. Nowadays, drinking water is being supplied through pipeline for about half an hour, once in 96 hours. Can you believe it?? A classic case of " Water, water everywhere-not a drop to drink". The worse is yet to come. There is talk of water being supplied through tankers @2o lts./day/person. I don't think there can be a worst possible administrative set-up in the whole world. With unlimited financial resources (thanks to liberal Central Government aid), the administration out here so incompetent that it cannot provide drinking water to its 2 lakh population. Internal political bickerings, irresponsible and incompetent bureaucrats and an equally insensitive head of administration - a classic case setup. God Alone can save these islands.

Welcome to Port Blair, the gateway to Andamans

The length of the landing strip is elusive.. if one realises that it was taken from atop a hill, bang on the edge of the runway.. IXZ has a long way to go become an international airport but thanks to the mandarins in Delhi, Port Blair is going to be declared an International airport soon.. with flights to Bangkok, Singapore and KL.. hope fully the ILS would be installed and the length of the runway extended..