Beach Thick Knees

North Cinque Island Wildlife Sanctuary, December 2006





For more avifauna from the A&N Islands see
http://3fotosaday.blogspot.com/2010/01/teals-on-full-moon-night.html
http://3fotosaday.blogspot.com/2009/11/birds-of-a-islands-1.html

Teals on a full moon night

These pictures are from a series taken one full moon night in 2006 in Wandoor in the Andamans. The small tank is the roosting site of a big flock of lesser whistling teals and the light of the full moon offered an interesting oppurtunity of making these pictures. The images were all shot at 1600 film speed and with maximum possible aperture. They've also been cropped to remove the distracting and/or irrelevant foreground and/or background as relevant

Turtles of the A&N - 4: Different threats

While the beaches in the A&N islands have always been used by sea turtles for nesting, they have also been facing serious threats of various kinds. Here is a representative idea of what these are:

Feral dogs are one of the biggest threats to turtles in these islands. They often attack nesting turtles and as seen in this case dig up freshly laid nests. This is a 1998 picture of a dug up nest of the Olive Ridley in the Cuthbert Bay Sanctuary in Middle Andaman Island

Another big threat has been sand mining from the beaches for the construction industry. This has not only had a negative impact on the turtles, but also led to increased erosion and destruction of the coastline. This is a 1998 picture of truck and tractor tyre marks on the beach of Cuthbert Bay Wildlife Sanctuary

Increased mining of sand and destruction of the coastal vegetation leads to the erosion of the beach as seen here in Hut Bay, Little Andaman. The implications are obvious!

For more pics of turtles on the A&N islands please see

http://3fotosaday.blogspot.com/2009/11/here-are-few-pictures-of-turtle.html
http://3fotosaday.blogspot.com/2009/11/turtles-of-a-1.html
http://3fotosaday.blogspot.com/2009/12/hawksbill-turtles-of-a-3.html

Breathing roots, Mangroves, Andaman islands

Mayabundar, July 2003

Fiddler Crab amidst breathing roots, Mayabundar, July 2003

Hermit Crabs move around amidst breathing roots, Wandoor, 2007

Forest destruction, Andamans 2

In the timber yard, Hut Bay, 1998

Plywood mill, Bamboo Flat, 1998. The plywood industry was an important consumer of timber in the islands. A combination of factors including increasing costs, shortage of timber and increasing awareness led to their closing down in 2001

Large areas of forests in the Andamans were cleared in this manner to create plantations and settlements. This is a 1998 picture from Havelock Island

Forest destruction, Andaman Islands 1

When a president comes visiting.
This is a picture of the New Wandoor Beach where tens of huge casuarina and coconut trees were cut a couple of years ago for a helipad for a visit for the President Pratibha Patil. For a detailed story on what happened you can look up http://pankaj-atcrossroads.blogspot.com/2008/01/visit-and-aftermath.html

Large scale sand mining on the coasts has led to massive erosion and as seen in this case loss of considerable stretches of littoral forests. This is a 1998 picture from Hut Bay, Little Andaman Island

An elephant and a log. This is a 1998 picture of the Timber yard in Hut Bay, Little Andaman Island. Large scale logging that was going on since the 1970s was finally stopped in Little Andaman following Supreme Court orders in 2001. Related issues and the developments leading to the court orders can be read in 'Troubled Islands' the book published in 2003 that is a compilation of my articles that appeared in different publications from 1998-2003. If you are interested in getting copies do write to me at psekhsaria@gmail.com

Jellyfish, Ross Island

This is a set of pictures taken more than 10 years ago, in May 1998, at the Ross Island jetty just off Port Blair.

Giant Robber Crabs

These are pictures taken more than a decade ago - in February 1998 during a visit to the small South Sentinel Island Wildlife Sanctuary which is part of the Andaman Group of islands. South Sentinel is only 1.6 sq. kms in area and is uninhabited by humans. The island is known to support a very good population of the Giant Robber Crabs; infact the island is the only one in the Andaman group that has any giant robber crabs at all. The beach on the island is also a very good nesting site for the Green Sea turtle. The island is said to have been badly hit by the earthquake and tsunami of December 2004 and not much is presently known of the status of all this wildlife here.

Fauna of the A&N Islands - 1

Nicobari Crab Eating Macaque, South Bay, Great Nicobar Island, Feb. 2002
Only two islands in the Nicobars, Great Nicobar Island and Katchal have a population of these macaques. In Great Nicobar in particular, they had become a big problem for the horticulturists and farmers on account of crop damage that they caused

Giant Robber Crab, South Sentinel Wildlife Sanctuary, February 1998.
The Giant Robber Crab Birgus latro is among the largest and the most land dwelling of crab species. It is found in a number of Nicobar Islands and only the South Sentinel Island in the Andaman group. South Sentinel is a small 1.6 sq. kms un-inhabited island that is known to have a good population of these crabs

Green Sea turtle returning to the sea after nesting, South Sentinel Island Wildlife Sanctuary, Feb. 1998.

Birds of the A&N Islands - 1

Nicobari Megapode, South Bay, Great Nicobar Island, February 2002

Chestnut bittern, Wandoor, South Andaman Island, June 2008

Beach thick knee, North Cinque Island Wildlife Sanctuary, Sept. 2007

Andaman Scapes

North Cinque Island Wildlife Sanctuary

North Cinque Island Wildlife Sanctuary

South Sentinel Island Wildlife Sanctuary

Mushrooms - Andaman Rainforest Floor

The tsunami impacted in the A&N Islands

These are some older pictures from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of houses and people impacted by the tsunami that hit the coasts on December 26, 2004. I have been visiting the islands and following the developments there for over a decade and hope to regularly share different dimensions of these islands on this blog through the pictures that I have been taking.

Havaldar Arjan Singh and his wife show us the remains of their house along the coast of Great Nicobar Island in the extreme south. Great Nicobar was the closest to the epicentre of the earthquake that initiated the tsunami and not-unexpectedly was very badly hit. This picture was taken in January 2006, more than a year after the tsunami hit the islands and latest reports indicate that rehabilitation work particularly in the Nicobar islands continues to be incomplete and very tardy

The foundation of a 'permanent shelter' in Bamboo Flat for those who lost their dwellings to the tsunami in South Andaman Island. This is a 2007 picture at a site that has one of the biggest reconstruction projects in the Andaman islands for the tsunami affected

In the temporary shelters built at Choudhari in South Andaman Island. This is a January 2006 picture. It is evident that proximity to Port Blair (Choudhari is just a few kms from the capital city) ensured better relief and rehab to those affected. The people of the Nicobars that was much worse hit continue to suffer a situation that is still very bad.
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Also see the following links for my articles and other details related to the tsunami in the A&N Islands
http://pankaj-atcrossroads.blogspot.com/2009/06/earth-shaking-event.html
http://pankaj-atcrossroads.blogspot.com/2008/01/visit-and-aftermath.html
http://pankaj-atcrossroads.blogspot.com/2007/12/new-vulnerabilities-islands.html

Monsoon clouds - Andaman islands

There is something about the water, the air and the clouds of the Andaman islands... In the monsoons in particular, the colours, the intensity and the drama is unmatchable. As the monsoon continues to play truant this year, here are a few pics from the Andamans from the past.

Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park, Wandoor, South Andaman. We were on the beach on Jollybuoy Island and could see the clouds building up and blowing in. I could manage a few pictures before we had to ourselves run for shelter... (July 2003)

Late evening ... from the coast of Neil Island (September 2007)

A dramatic build up clouds over Port Blair, seen and photographed from Ross Island
(September 2007)