The Andaman and Nicobar Islands - Day 3

Friday morning started as early as usual, again catching the ferry, this time however we didn't head straight for the forest but rather went through the lowlands past some of the flooded land that used to be farms, again tsunami damage that cost an estimated 8,000 lives on these islands (government estimates are lower as the officials don't want to look bad!):

  

We headed then up to a strange forest park with accommodation that resembled a 1960's library in some UK market town, replete with a garden and visitors loos but not a lot else.  We did however use this as the start of another forest walk, thankfully down the steep hill.

We were rewarded on the walk down by a splendid Andaman Woodpecker:

And a Barred Cuckooshrike:

We also saw this grey-headed race of the Brown Shrike, which we're assured is the only race to visit the islands:

That said this chap looks brown-headed to me:

After lunch we again did some more forest walking before heading to a beach in the later afternoon, via a stop at a plantation to buy some spices (our suitcase still smells of cloves!).  The first thing we noticed about the beach was the strange patterns.  Apparently the hermit crabs roll little balls of sand up and then move them out from their burrows, hence the radial patterns literally covering the beach:

It was another beautiful spot:

Though visible tsunami damage here too with uprooted mangrove trees:

Though showing some signs of recovery:

 The local fisherman has made an offering to the water:

 More stunning scenery:

A particularly brightly painted fishing boat:

One part of the story that remains untold is the leeches.  We both experienced our first leeches on the Andamans.  It turns out it is one of the few places where they are land-based rather than water based.  And sensitive to heat and vibrations.  I had a bloody patch on my leg when we got home on the first evening.  On the second evening I had another bloody patch on one leg and a bloody patch on a sock, which had been bitten through.  Friday however saw me lifting my trouser leg in the forest for a full leech to drop onto the road surface with a plop.  Helen, who had until this point been leech free, lifted her trouser leg to show she had no leech when one plopped from her leg too!  It was 4-1 at this point.  We actually saw a 'hunting' leech.  A little pink thing no more than 2cm long and crawling along by making itself into an 'n' shape then stretching back out, they moved quite quickly too!

As we were walking along the beach, Helen noticed a blood patch on her trousers, lifted then to reveal the aftermath of what must have been the biggest leech either of us had attracted:

 We drove back from the beach to the hotel.  We were supposed to go out on Saturday morning for a couple of hours but we were only missing a few species (Andaman Wood Pigeon, White-breasted Wood Swallow, Andaman Scops Owl, Andaman Barn Owl and Beach Thick-Knee) all of which we were very unlikely to see without being on another island, at night... so decided to use this time to pack and enjoy our first cooked breakfast of the trip.

Then it was off to the airport and a flight to Chennai with a quick change and on to Coimbatore late-evening to stay at The Residency, which had great food, seriously over-priced beer and a very good room, US quality in fact.  Some chap with long partly dyed hair stood up on the flight and seemed to think everyone should be looking at him.  Hmmmmm.  Anyway, it was a comfortable trip and we really enjoyed our stay on the Andamans.  It's a long way to go but worth it for the endemic species you can locate.

The Nicobars remain off limits to non-Indians due to the aboriginal tribes (four of them) and their environmental sensitivity.   Given what we know now, I would have planned another couple of days and added a trip to another island but that said we're very happy with this part of our holiday.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands - Day 2

Thursday was another 04:40 start, this time to catch the ferry across from Port Blair, thereby avoiding a 50km drive around the island.  We headed North and spent a good chunk of the morning walking down a road in the forest.  It was quite frustrating as we were seeking a few of the species we'd missed on the first day and was again very hot.  We did see Alexandrine Parakeet:

And added a few more of the localised and endemic species but we were glad when we moved on, this time heading for a forest park by the coast:

Another idyllic spot but one being reconstructed in the wake of the tsunami damage. 

The goal here was the Mangrove Whistler which proved elusive right up until we were about to get back into the car and leave, when one started whistling from a nearby perch.  This image is ISO 100:

and this one ISO 1600.  I had left the UK having done much technical preparation on the use of flash with a super-telephoto, only to find that the local electricity lacked the voltage to charge the batteries for my flash unit.  So I was carrying a lot of redundant kit and also forced to use the ISO to make up for low lighting, which has left a lot of the images frustratingly grainy.  Humbug.  Note to self, next time pre-charge the batteries so at least you'll be able to do some forest photography.

We headed back to the ferry, stopping at another spot, as high-tide had forced a number of waders close to shore.  This is the view across to the docks:

And the shoreline:

 In the afternoon we headed to a new spot, some ponds and lagoons, and enjoyed adding a number of trip and life species, a trip bird was this Yellow Bittern:

Another trip birds was the Lesser Whistling Duck:

We also added Cotton Pygmy-Goose, albeit too distant for a good snap.  I'd despaired of ever seeing a Pygymy Goose but there were four adult males in a group of seven or eight birds.  We also had a fly-by from a  Cinnamon Bittern, another lifer.  We enjoyed wandering along the road and mooching around the lagoons even though we became a bit of an 'attraction' for the locals walking and driving by.

We headed back to the hotel for an earlier dinner and a longer sleep ahead of our third 04:40 start on Friday morning...

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands - Day 1

A long-awaited holiday finally came around, another trip to India (our third) and one taking in the remote Andaman Islands.  We got a special permit when we applied for our increasingly expensive travel visa (in retaliation apparently to UK policies applied to India) so were confident we'd be allowed to enter and stay on South Andaman Island.

The flight was a long one, London to Mumbai (really didn't like the airport or vibe of Mumbai), then after a long overnight wait, to Chennai (a notably more comfortable and modern airport and with a much more pleasant vibe too) and then finally to Port Blair, touching down some 25 hours after checking-in at Heathrow.  We spent our first afternoon in the hotel, with a sleep, dinner and then more sleep, though I did take this snap from the window of the Fortune Bay Island Resort hotel:

The average day-time temperature is 31c with high humidity, a shock after 7c and dry-as-a-bone London.  We awoke then on Wednesday morning at 3:30am for our 4:40 start (the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are on the same time zone as mainland India, hence the clock times involved), which turned out to be a 5am start.  We took our packed breakfasts and headed off with our guide and driver to explore.

The first stop was a small rocky beach, on the way our first trip bird, a Pacific Golden Plover:

Helen saw an Endemic Brown Coucal but we'd passed it by the time she pointed it out.  I finally saw one two days later...

The beach itself is much like the rest of the un-built-on parts of the Island, that is beautiful and reminiscent of tropical paradise:

We spotted a Collared Kingfisher, one of our 'most wanted' birds, sat on rock:

It's not all birds enjoying the seashore, cows roam freely too:

From the beach we headed into the ever-present forest:

And spotted one of the similarly every-present White-bellied Kingfishers:

A very raucous bird when disturbed.  The guide was very excited to point out a Violet Cuckoo, we hadn't expected to see one here and enjoyed this lifer:

 Another Endemic, this time the White-headed Starling:

This was taken later, of a group bathing and drying, but show good character and another perspective:

The forest is steamy, really hot and humid.  We were soon completely bathed in sweat.

 We were out for six and half hours then had two hours back at base then went out for a further five hours.  Given we weren't recovered from the trip it was a tough but very rewarding day.

Another endemic, the Andaman Bulbul, here grabbing a berry:

And another, the Andaman Drongo:

Another endemic, the Andaman Shama:

This is a more wide-spread species, a male Asian Fairy Bluebird:

 And finally for Wednesdays' images a pair of Green Imperial Pigeons:

We birded on beyond dark seeing the Andaman Nightjar, Andaman Hawk Owl, Oriental Hawk Owl and Hume's Hawk Owl before finally getting back to the hotel, dinner and falling into bed post-shower for some air conditioning assisted sleep.