Journey to Rutland Island

Reposting from my old blog.
 
Four big bags, a noisy bus stand, tropical heat and humidity. The bus was stifling with blaring music and perspiration of fellow passengers. We had been waiting for half an hour already to go to Manjery. Himesh Reshamiya continued to scream from loud speakers. We started after much adieu, and travelled through chaotic Port Blair towards Manjery, where countryside spread on either side of the road, with plantations, rice fields, streams, and tin-roofed houses. The bus had barely halted when Anand jumped inside to help us with our luggage. He had been waiting there with Sudhir and a week’s provisions for our destination, Rutland. We had hired a Dhungi that was loaded as soon ‘Captain Poteek’, wearing his cowboy hat and Croc-tooth pendant pulled it closer to the shore.

A couple of clams, exposed by low tide, were breathing through rock crevices as the bright sunlight made their edges shine in bright blue and turquoise. Mudskippers skittered about on tiny rocks and water surface as one of us got closer and tried unsuccessfully for a photograph. All on board, engine on, our little boat roared, cut through water and moved away from the shore. The sun was bright and sea was calm. Clear and blue-green water of the sea made the rocks at the bottom visible at times.

In distance, we saw several little islands covered in dark green forests. A couple of Black-naped terns flew so close to the surface of water that they appeared to skid on it. Some small rocks, sticking out of the water, were covered in bird droppings bearing signs of a resting place away from land. Dhungi ride took one and a half hours to Rutland, which is roughly shaped like an hourglass. We approached the beach of Barakhari (Big Bay), in Woodmason’s Bay, on western side of the island.

Quickly, Poteek anchored the boat, as Anand and Sudhir gathered a few poles and stripped them to make ropes out of the bark. Our provisions were secured and balanced on three poles using the newly made ropes and carried towards the basthi as there is no other means of transportation on this island.

We passed through forest, stream, ricefields, mud paths, and a big playground where basthi boys played cricket. Sudhir’s backyard was selected for pitching two tents by twenty-two cricketers! The day ended with a quick dip in the nearby stream, handiya (rice beer), and home cooked meal under a starry sky.

About Rutland:

Rutland is a small island, a little over 100 sq. km, located to the south of the South Andaman Island, and separated by a shallow strait called MacPhearson’s Strait. The island is roughly shaped like an hourglass. The northern half of the island has a somewhat circular mountain ridge, which reaches a maximum elevation of 420 m at Mt. Ford (Kalapahar), and encloses an elevated plateau covered in dense evergreen forests. Most of the villages are situated at lower elevations towards the north and west of this area. Southern half of the island is much flatter and has several creeks and mangrove forests. Rutland has plentiful supply of fresh water in the form of numerous small perennial streams originating in hill forests. Crystal-clear, cool water of these streams is the only respite in the unforgiving summer heat of Rutland. Much of the lowland forest was under logging operations in the past and some of the elephants used in these operations were around until recently.