DAY 3-ROSS & SMITH ISLAND
We started out the day early, as a group of us went to observe turtles nesting at 3 am which was a rather unearthly hour but truly a spectacular site.
There are only few places in India where the turtles come and lay their eggs in the sea shore and Andamans is the one such place where we got this opportunity to see the Turtle nesting process. We were unlucky in that we couldn’t get up close with Green Sea, Olive Ridley or Leather Back turtles as we had desired to. But now the seriousness of this process was clearly understood and we begin to appreciate the role of the foresters and other staff of the forest department who are the backbone of the management of the A & N Islands which is essentially a group of forested islands which has a high biodiversity index and it makes it difficult for both felling or maintenance.
We returned to our hotel and then later set out at 7 am to visit several tribes such as the Jarawas and Karen. Especially the Jarawa are a small society of hunter-gatherers who live on the isolated Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Bay of Bengal. Their present population is estimated between 250-350.
Over there, we conducted surveys and quizzed the Karmen villagers about their lifestyle and noted how different it was form ours. We were also able to compare their quality of life with the villagers of Durgapur No.8 whom we had met just the previous day. We had a special session with a Youth Pastor.We learnt that 12 families of their tribe had come settle here in 1925 and has expanded to 200 ever since. After having them fill questionnaires, we collected our information and shared to gather a huge sample.
We now headed for another important place, Diglipur.
Diglipur is the largest town of North Andaman Island, in the Andaman Archipelago, India.The city is located on the southern side of Aerial Bay, at 43 metres above sea level, 290 km north of Port Blair.
It is crossed by the Kalpong River, the only river of the Andaman Islands. Saddle Peak, the highest point in the archipelago, lies about 10 km to the south.
In Diglipur, We then went to Ross & Smith Island, via boat, admiring the scenery all the while. Like their lovely tropical counterparts, the twin islands of Smith and Ross are connected by a narrow sandbar of dazzling white sand, and are up there with the best in the Andaman’s.
Having arrived at the beach, we saw several interesting species such as the coconut crabs. We all were treated to a dip in the ocean and took up the opportunity eagerly. Later, we studied the corals in the area and our teachers explained the symbiotic relationship that the coral shared with at least ten sea creatures which made it a key stone organism.
Suffice to say, it was great day, where we truly understood the harmony that the organisms in an ecosystem lived in and returned to the hotel, Turtle Resort, with great memories and an even better learning experience
Text –Shivangi Sikri & Vishal Amin, Grade 11
We started out the day early, as a group of us went to observe turtles nesting at 3 am which was a rather unearthly hour but truly a spectacular site.
There are only few places in India where the turtles come and lay their eggs in the sea shore and Andamans is the one such place where we got this opportunity to see the Turtle nesting process. We were unlucky in that we couldn’t get up close with Green Sea, Olive Ridley or Leather Back turtles as we had desired to. But now the seriousness of this process was clearly understood and we begin to appreciate the role of the foresters and other staff of the forest department who are the backbone of the management of the A & N Islands which is essentially a group of forested islands which has a high biodiversity index and it makes it difficult for both felling or maintenance.
We returned to our hotel and then later set out at 7 am to visit several tribes such as the Jarawas and Karen. Especially the Jarawa are a small society of hunter-gatherers who live on the isolated Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Bay of Bengal. Their present population is estimated between 250-350.
Over there, we conducted surveys and quizzed the Karmen villagers about their lifestyle and noted how different it was form ours. We were also able to compare their quality of life with the villagers of Durgapur No.8 whom we had met just the previous day. We had a special session with a Youth Pastor.We learnt that 12 families of their tribe had come settle here in 1925 and has expanded to 200 ever since. After having them fill questionnaires, we collected our information and shared to gather a huge sample.
We now headed for another important place, Diglipur.
Diglipur is the largest town of North Andaman Island, in the Andaman Archipelago, India.The city is located on the southern side of Aerial Bay, at 43 metres above sea level, 290 km north of Port Blair.
It is crossed by the Kalpong River, the only river of the Andaman Islands. Saddle Peak, the highest point in the archipelago, lies about 10 km to the south.
In Diglipur, We then went to Ross & Smith Island, via boat, admiring the scenery all the while. Like their lovely tropical counterparts, the twin islands of Smith and Ross are connected by a narrow sandbar of dazzling white sand, and are up there with the best in the Andaman’s.
Having arrived at the beach, we saw several interesting species such as the coconut crabs. We all were treated to a dip in the ocean and took up the opportunity eagerly. Later, we studied the corals in the area and our teachers explained the symbiotic relationship that the coral shared with at least ten sea creatures which made it a key stone organism.
Suffice to say, it was great day, where we truly understood the harmony that the organisms in an ecosystem lived in and returned to the hotel, Turtle Resort, with great memories and an even better learning experience
Text –Shivangi Sikri & Vishal Amin, Grade 11