Havelock - Swaraj Dweep - Andamanen

4.30 a.m., why so early again? Clearly, more ferries later would definitely have dug a bigger hole in his wallet. So get out of bed, put on your backpack and go. At 5 a.m. I found myself down on the main street and it was as clear as dumpling broth. The rickshas that constantly surrounded you with their services during the day, constantly honking, were now... non-existent.

Those are always the best moments for me, like in this case now, the ferry is 8 km away and is supposed to leave in an hour, but there is no one to take me there. I just started running and a good 5 minutes later I heard the typical rattling noise coming closer behind me. The moment when you breathe a sigh of relief. The streets were, as always, empty at that time. So a good 15 minutes later I was standing at the “Hatto” ferry pier.

The ferry

Check-in was like at the airport, with passport control and the whole lari fari. The well-air-conditioned and sterile ferry left at 6:30 a.m. I had booked a seat in the luxury class without knowing it, so I had to sit on the smaller upper deck for the 120 minutes of the crossing. The obligatory television and music system were also smaller here than on the lower deck. The stupid advertising alternating with Indian dance and pop music penetrated me just as much. I blocked out most of the ride with my headphones. However, when I took it off at the end of the trip, I thought I was dreaming and thought I was at a big fairground. The bass-filled music from the lower deck now did all it could to drown out the music up here. Big Hubabuba, Hello India.

Arrive

Meanwhile, when I arrived on Havelock Island, a rickshaw took me to my accommodation for my time here on the island. I arrived there at 9 a.m. and was able to immediately move into my great bungalow, 20 meters from the beach. If you travel here, you shouldn't expect anything culturally; it's mainly about relaxing, eating well and, ideally, exploring the island on foot.

Havelock Island - Swaraj Dweep

The good thing is that the island is very clear. Half is populated, the other half is still, and hopefully will remain so, untouched forest. The sea around is lined with reefs and there are 3 larger beaches worth mentioning. The most famous is the “Elephant Beach” which can only be reached on foot or by boat. A walk along a forest path about 30 minutes. Then the idyll is over for 10 minutes and you suddenly find yourself in the middle of Disney Land. The Indian tourists come here by boat and enjoy the absolutely disturbing water, fun on offer. At 200 m is halligalli. Food stalls, water sports and endless people. After 200 m, as I said, the spook is over and you can go straight back to paradise! 3 km long beach and empty of people.

The most beautiful beach is the dream beach “Radhanagar” Beach, spacious, endless, and once you have passed the tourist crowd, absolute idyll and really perfect for swimming even at low tide. The “Kala Pathar Beach” should also be mentioned, with its incredibly light blue water colors, this is really a beautiful gift of nature. Not so nice here, the mountains of garbage!

Facts

Western tourists are estimated to only make up 10 percent here, the other 90 percent are from mainland India. But they only come for 2 days, take their honeymoon posing pictures on the beach and disappear again.

The bungalow

I would like to come back to my beautiful bungalow, I could bet that I had the most beautiful one in the small complex. It was funny at night that you could literally hear how it was being eaten piece by piece by insects in the wood.

Not so fun when you forget to clean up the bananas and cookies. You can only hear rustling in the dark as soon as you turn on the light and see a big mouse or small rat (I don't really care) escaping with a biscuit in its mouth. People and nature still count. Big spectacle, little damage.

Namaste