Trip to Baratang is once in a lifetime experience, which at present can not be experienced anywhere in India. The whole day trip to Baratang island takes you to a world which is still restricted to the world at large and hence it is preserved.
But by saying “preserved” does not actually mean “preserved” in the modern era where tourism is one of the main source of revenue. But, my experience, after visiting twice to this place in the span of 5-6 years gives me feel of bit perseverance as compred to other islands of Andaman, which are now being highly commercialised and the beauty of nature is at stake.
Travel to Baratang
Baratang is located in the tribal area of Jarawa, hence limited travel options are available to Baratang from Port Blair. The area of Baratang comes under forest department and is a protected area, hence permit is required to visit the island.
In order to visit Baratang, it is required to book the journey in advance with a tour operator or one may hire cab from Port Blair for complete to and fro journey. So, as a better option, I had booked cab for to and fro journey to Baratang, without considering the hardship which I was going to face after this booking.
There are many catches, if you book only cab service and not entire package, which the local tour operators do not reveal.
But having faced the hardship, I will reveal the catch which is hiding behind the cab booking.
The journey started at 4:00 A.M early morning, when the cab reached for pick-up. The trip starts early in the morning because the vehicle has to report at the forest check-point from where the convoy escorts the vehicle through the forest area. The check-point opens every day for 3 times only. First slot is 6:00 A.M, second is 9:00 A.M and the last slot is 12:00 A.M. So, for tourists there are two slots to go to Baratang and return, which is 6:00 AM and 9:00 A.M because of travel time in journey and entry and exit restrictions.
So, we had two slots for travel to Baratang, but the tour operator did not informed about the second slot and took us in the first slot, which was very early in the morning.
This is one of the catch, which the tour operator will not reveal while booking the trip.