Travel through Jarawa Forest is a unique experience because of its uniqueness in terms of travel conditions and the sight which one can experience if fortunate enough, “The Jarawa Tribes”.
The travel starts at sharp 6:00 A.M when a security convoy starts the ride from the check post and other vehicles follow the convoy. This convoy is important to clear the route, since vehicles can not stop in between the forest and in case of any road blockage or any movement of Jarawas, the security guards of convoy will alert the other vehicles. Having said that, there is no such threat or issue while travelling through the forest, the convoy is only to protect tribes and to avoid any confrontation between the tribe and the outside world. The Jarawas of Andamans are still cut-off from the outside world, hence they are “protected”. We completed the formality of registration at the check-post, where details of our identity, car driver, no. of persons, details of return journey, etc were captured and the same was checked at the time by the forest guards when we were about to enter the forest. Foreign nationals are also allowed to visit Baratang Island without any special permit but to enter the forest area, special permit is required, which can be obtained at the Baratang Island, after arrival.
Our vehicle also started the journey through the forest and the driver alerted us not to click any photographs of the tribe and not to offer anything to the tribes en-route. It is strictly prohibited to interact with Jarawas as it may lead to prosecution or if the tribes are not happy with any such act, they may act offensively. We took his advise seriously and continued our journey.
The vehicles move in line inside the Jarawa forest because the roads are very narrow and it is a single lane road. No vehicles stop inside forest and no vehicles could be seen over speeding or overtaking. It was a discipline ride inside the jungle unlike the ride on Indian roads or inside any other jungle roads. It is a ride of approx. 50 Kms and with a steady speed of 35-40 Kms per hour, it takes maximum 90 minutes to reach to the other side of forest which is Middle Strait Jetty. So, the speed of vehicle is fair enough to observe and feel the beauty of the Jungle and The Jarawas.
We were fortunate enough, that within 15 minutes of the entry into the jungle, we got the glimpse of Jarawas and it was not 1-2, it was a group of Jarawas, who were hiding inside the jungle and as soon as they saw a truck passing by, they came out of the jungle with weapons in their hand and stopped the truck. Then, they boarded that empty truck without harming anyone and all this was happening in front of our eyes. For, a minute, we also could not understand what was happening, since we didn’t expected so many tribal and that too weapons in their hands, but than our driver informed that, this is the daily routine of the Jarawas and they follow the same process to travel within the forest from one place to another.
Having heard that, we were relaxed but watching too many Jarawas at one point of time was a delight.