British GQ - 04.2020

Covering 18 hectares,

Taj Exotica Resort

& Spa, Andamans

employs a resident

sustainability officer

>> Mindful of the arguments against

bringing more tourism to what

remains an underdeveloped and

therefore fragile corner of India,

its setting is testament to a new

approach to light-touch hotel-

keeping. For starters, its 54 Aman-

worthy villas are based on local

housing and hewn from the same

materials used by the Andaman

Islands’ indigenous Jarawa people.

Meanwhile, its main pavilion is

impressive but far from palatial when

compared to other properties in Taj’s

portfolio. Granted, there’s a 50-metre

raised pool running the length of the

building, but you never feel you’re

anywhere but secreted within the

coconut and palmyra palms that line

the beach. A few steps, however,

and the reason generations of scuba

divers – and hippies in search of

heedless salvation – have headed

here becomes apparent. A lack of

commercial fishing means the sea

life is exceptional and remarkably

close to shore; even a walk through

the 18 hectares of the property

turns up plants and birdlife fit to

confound the most jaded naturalist

or twitcher.

Here, the property has equipped

itself with a heroically enthusiastic

guide, a former financier turned

biologist called Jocelyn Panjikaran,

who, in another fresh move for the

+ SEVEN NIGHTS AT TAJ EXOTICA RESORT & SPA, ANDAMANS, INCLUDING FLIGHTS AND

TRANSFERS, FROM £2,095 PER PERSON. 01242 547755. ABERCROMBIEKENT.CO.UK

brand, serves as its sustainability

officer. But it’s a measure of the

Taj culture that it didn’t stop there.

So rather than array some quasi-

cosmopolitan cuisine around a

never-ending buffet (there are

precious few alternatives, after all)

Taj Andamans’ head chef, Anal

Uniyal, has created a menu that

travels up the Indonesian coastline

before tracking back down the

length and breadth of India – the

islands having been settled by or

served as a place of banishment for

a plethora of different ethnicities.

Walk the length of Radhanagar

Beach, as far as the sign that warns

against seaborne crocodiles (known,

but thankfully not expected, to

swim the narrow channel between

Havelock and its nearest uninhabited

neighbour) to head back in time to

meet the next bus depositing locals

to a relatively small spot of sand

they consider their “patch” and

consider how much would have to

change to turn Havelock into just

another jumping-off point for the

inveterate Insta-loper. The proposed

addition of a seaplane transfer from

Port Blair, perhaps? Here’s hoping

not. (But feel free to update the

immigration system.) G

The 54

villas are

hewn from

the same

materials

used by

the Jarawa

people

Head chef Anal Uniyal has curated

a menu inspired by the coastlines

of India and Indonesia

GQ TR AV EL

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114 GQ.CO.UK APRIL 2020