Are the Andaman
Islands the
NEW Maldives?
L
et’s get one thing straight:
you don’t go to the Andaman
Islands, you get to them.
For the uninitiated, this
starts with a 12-hour BA flight to
Chennai, requiring an overnight stop.
Helpfully, this is greatly improved
by the recent refurbishment of the
Taj Connemara, a stopover since
British colonial times and, in keeping
with its central role in the age of
empire, gently restored to its former
Claridge’s-style glory. From here, it’s
a two-hour internal flight across the
Bay Of Bengal to India’s farthest-flung
territory, followed by a brief layover
in its main point of entry, Port Blair.
(If desired, this can be spent on a
mercifully brief tour of its forbidding
former prison, once home to the
country’s freedom fighters, exiled
here before independence in 1947.)
Next up: a 90-minute ferry crossing
to Havelock Island (and for those in
search of comfort there’s really only
Havelock worth considering) that
ends with your luggage being
dumped unceremoniously on the
quayside ahead of an immigration
line overseen by a pair of civil
servants charged with taking down
visitors’ details longhand.
At which point, you may well ask,
why bother? Well, for those who
haven’t guessed, the Andamans are
Long guarded for their ecological – and
ethnological – importance, after the opening
of its first five-star eco-resort, India’s best-
kept secret won’t stay that way for long
Story by Bill Prince
off the beaten track yet uniquely
equipped to deliver on the tropical
highlights politely tamped down in
other destinations at this latitude –
thanks largely to the area being
cordoned off by the Indian
government due to its strategic
and scientific importance.
Beyond hosting military exercises,
the aim thus far has been to protect
its indigenous peoples, whose very
remoteness has been serially
undermined by overzealous
anthropologists and the odd
misguided tourist (the body
of the last outsider to consider
venturing ashore remains on
North Sentinel Island, bringing
even more unwanted attention
to its inhabitants). But things are
changing as prime minister Narendra
Modi, no doubt eyeing the income
that floods into the Maldives, espies
a new opportunity for the sprawling
archipelago: upscale tourism.
Thus far, only the intrepid few have
made it here in significant numbers:
more often than not off-grid divers
in search of the marine mother lode.
Wary of overdeveloping this end of
the market, access to the best dive
spots is currently under review. At
the same time, Havelock now plays
host to the region’s first luxury
property, Taj Exotica Resort & Spa,
Andamans: the inaugural “eco-
resort” from India’s premier
hospitality group, which sits on the
crescent-shaped Radhanagar Beach.
To confer “drop and flop” status
on the property, however, is to do the
Taj Andamans a huge disservice. >>
To confer ‘drop and
flop’ status on the
Taj Andamans is to
do it a disservice
Story by Bill Prince
Taj Exotica is the Andamans’
first luxury resort; (above)
white snapper carpaccio from
grill restaurant Turtle House
GQ TR AV EL
04-20Travel_3320869.indd 105 21/01/2020 13:01
APRIL 2020 GQ.CO.UK 113