Camping in Little Andaman

Hi guys

Planning a camping trip to Little Andaman in January 2012.


Does anyone know anything about the West side of the island?
Is it possible to walk through the centre of the island from East to West?

Any tips would be appreciated

http://wikimapia.org/110043/Little-Andaman-Island

Looking at that I would take lots of food from Hut Bay..

Seriously interesting proposition, permissions would have to be sought though .

hi nomad_traveller

do you have any idea about what kind of permission, from who etc is needed?

Forest & Police Offices , with a letter given to Commissioner level at least i guess . wait let me find this out .

But the again non -Indians are restricted to only a few parts of the island .

hi.. mughal, I am right now in little andaman for couple of days. And yeah surprisingly the internet connectivity is there. I didnt expect so. Once i am back home from this trip, i will post the info. about little andaman. its amazing place. Must visit.

hi.. mughal, I am right now in little andaman for couple of days. And yeah surprisingly the internet connectivity is there. I didnt expect so. Once i am back home from this trip, i will post the info. about little andaman. its amazing place. Must visit.

hi wanderlusty

any first hand info would be much appreciated

@ Wanderlusty : Lucky you .... sad i missed andamans , but i did make the trek from Kodaikanal to munnar for a close encounter with elephants in the wild .

hi wanderlusty and mughal,

Do u guys have any info? I am planning for Jan'12 trip too. I have been to havelock before and stayed in a resort.... but this time i want to camp and in little andaman....

if it isnt possible, i hav to camp @ niel island!

hi there prabhutrekmania

i dont really have any on the ground info as i haven't been there either i was hoping for wonderlusty to fill me in.

i know others have camped on little andaman before. i would hazard to guess that as long as you don't disturb the protected indigenous reservations it should be fine

Hi Mughal,
interesting to read that at least 1 more person on this planet is intending to cross (or walk around) L.A. in order to get to West Bay. I'd like to know whether you've been there or not in january 5 months ago. I went to L.A. in late 2010 for a week, wasn't prepared for the big walk to West Bay, hasn't even come to my mind back then. Once I was back home I was looking for fotos or information or any trace of infrastructure (be it a djungle path)to get there. All I could find was 1 foto in the whole entire internet from a scientific turtle-protection-project by save-our-seas (I think) with a turtle close-up but nothing but a distant palm-tree to behold on this picture (the camera is being placed on ground-level), which makes it even more of a mystic place (though I bet it's not any different from Hut Bay). Anyway.. google earth isn't helping either, so I want to go find out myself.

First I considered the ~10 mile djungle-walk, but I read in another private thread (not here) that the djungle is FULL of leetches. Plus I read frightening things about snakebites and their consequence. Better not walk the djungle alone in case of emergency. So I guess I will have to take the way around the southern part of the island IF I can get a permission. Last time I took a moto-ride to the light house and I heard even that is kind of illegal, the tribal area being just around that place (and I think including it). I heard that there's a scientific institution a bit further west from the light house, maybe it's a dead-end as well. Well, if I had the permission, how to plan the big walk? I would take lots of food with me in a backpack (bought in Germany, where I'm from, because the food in Hut Bay is good but not an option for several days in the heat and nutrition-wise I would go for nuts, raisins, chocolate, power-bars, muesli-bars, cookies, apples, dried fruits, lots of water etc. which can be the problem because you will need around 10-20 l. How to carry?)

Considering that walking to the light house on the beach from hut-bay along Harminder Bay takes aproximately 5-6 hours, one third of the whole distance (one way), I would start walking in the early morning, spending the night in a tent. I'm not sure but I think there's no estuary crossing on the way, 'cause I wouldn't want to swim through due to salt-water-crocs and currents (and my deep-water-phobia). I'm planning to go early february 2013. Adventurous regards.. J

Little Andaman is an island in the Andaman Islands. Of the islands open to tourism it's one of the largest, yet it's remote location makes it the least visited. Those that do make the journey will stumble across pristine beaches, waterfalls, oil palm plantations and good surf.

hi janw

sorry for the very late reply i just got back to oz and almost completely forgot about this post.

i stayed on little andaman fpr a couple of weeks in february and yes it is very beautiful but the sense of freedom on an island paradise was not there.

The authorities have become extremely strict with access to the other parts of the island away from Hut Bay and Buttler Bay etc. No one could even visit the light house. i tried and was immediately caught by two forest guards. An australian surfer who stayed there for a whole month said after being caught a couple of times he has threatened with deportation off the island. Camping had also been forbidden anywhere on L.A (possibly throughout all andamans at least when i was there). Traditional accommodation has become extremely limited due to the rise in tourist numbers.

That being said anything is possible if u really try. its just not going to be easy. You would have to set out at dawn before the forest guards are awake (as others i met did to visit the lighhouse). Or perhaps look into hiring a boat to get to the west side