Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest |

Splendour in limestone

Photo: Desikan Krishnan

Nature’s art The limestone caves at Baratang Island

We live in a frenetic urban world, where everything from art to ideas is encapsulated in bite-sized morsels. Sometimes, the natural world intrudes into our own, through an earthquake or tsunami. Otherwise, we forget that Nature is industriously worki ng away. A visit to the limestone caves of Baratang in the Andaman Islands reminded me of how oblivious we are to the world around us.

Once a dreaded outpost of the British Raj, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are now acquiring fame as a fabulous beach getaway. Port Blair, in the South Andaman Islands, is the hub, but the islands run the gamut of terrain from mountain and forest to white sand beaches. Islands are being opened up to tourism in a rather cautious manner, and Baratang, off the Middle Andaman Islands, is a relatively new entrant to the scene.

Getting to Baratang is certainly not a quick and easy affair. But no traveller up for the challenge can claim that it is boring. How could it be, with a bus ride that starts at 3.30 a.m., a ride on a ferry with the bus tagging along, and no less than two more rides on smaller boats? The Andaman Islands highway cuts through the Jarawa reserve, land set aside for the Jarawa, an indigenous people. A three-hour ride through evergreen and deciduous forest is a soothing journey, though stretches of the “highway” certainly provided enough jolts to bring me out of my reverie. The ride ends beyond Middle Strait, where a large ferry, capacious enough to hold a few buses, awaits us. In good Indian fashion, there is a scramble to board, everyone squeezing into the crevices left when the buses have parked themselves aboard.

A circlet of mangroves accompanies us through the half hour ride to Nilambur village in Baratang, where a few smaller ferries are waiting to take us further.

The water gleams in the bright Andaman sun, shining with a vigour that is rarely seen on mainland beaches. Finally, we reach the scene of the limestone caves, where a still smaller boat takes us on a ride under a canopy of mangroves to the beginning of a trail to the caves.

Worldwide, limestone caves are much admired for their natural sculpture, created by limestone that has dissolved under the action of rainwater and groundwater. In this highly popular category, the Baratang caves are still novices, with only one cave open to the public for a few years now.

Entering the cave through a narrow opening, it takes a few minutes for one’s eyes to adjust to the dark. Inside, the guide switches on a torch and in one breathtaking moment, the splendour of the cave reveals itself.

Here, water has seeped in from the ground above the caves to coax the limestone into any number of formations. Stalactites are suspended from the roof of the cave and drip on to the floor, where they create new formations on the floor, the stalagmites.

At places, these formations meet, giving rise to columns. If all this sounds very dry and scientific, think again.

What should the progeny of water and limestone be? Would you expect an elephant, an octopus or a jellyfish? Oh, but the Baratang cave has all of these!

On one wall, a most ferocious sight is displayed, the open jaws of a roaring tiger. On another, a face stares back at visitors, its mouth curved in a sneer.

A small cave, we finished viewing it in all of 20 minutes. Perhaps that sounds like small reward for a four-hour journey. Beauty is difficult to measure in such a balance though.

Tired but sated, we returned to Nilambur village, where the waiting bus took us to another must-see in the vicinity — a mud volcano. Mud volcanoes are volcanic structures that spew out a muddy fluid containing water and hydrocarbons.

Much cooler than their lava counterparts, they are an interesting if not fiery sight. The mud volcano at Nilambur is just a toddler, about a foot high. It obliged us though with a steady trickle of mud during our visit, giving us a good, if miniaturised view of how volcanoes work.

The long ride back is a hushed one, as passengers rest aching limbs. The forests have grown dark in our absence and the setting sun throws a cloak on the road ahead.

The splendour of Baratang is a silver lining in the mind and the memory of nature’s art brings contentment to this tired traveller.

APARNA SINGH

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail