KAVARATTI|KALPENI|KADMAT|MINICOY|AGATTI|BANGARAM

Perhaps the charm of Lakshadweep islands lies in their remoteness. Far off the beaten track, they attract no hordes of merry makers to its shores, or perhaps it is the beauty of the islands densely covered with coconut palms, and threaded by an unbroken line of creamy sand, each island serenely set in a sea whose waters range from palest aquamarine and turquoise to deepest sapphire and lapis lazuli. Yet again , may be the unique charm of Lakshadweep lies in the fact that each island, a tiny principality in itself, has existed from time immemorial, with little influence from the outside world. 

REACHING THERE

The Lakshadweep group of  islands are well connected both by Air and Sea. While Islands like Agatti & Bangaram can be reached by Air, the other islands can be reached by ship from Kochi. The ship offers different classes of accommodations. A/c First class with two/four berth cabins & tourist class with A/c seating. The vessels have all the facilities that go with a passenger vessel , namely video shows, cafeteria & snack bar, upper-deck airing space , entertainment lounge, Doctor on call etc.

Whatever the reason for Lakshadweep's magic. one fact is certain - it is the big destination of tomorrow

Lakshadeep is an archipelago consisting of 12 atolls, 3 reefs and 5 submerged banks. there are 10 inhabited islands and 17 uninhabited islands with a total geographical area of 32 sq. kms. It is located between 8 degrees - 12 degree 13'North latitude and 71 degree -74 degree East longitude, 220 to 440 Kms. away from the coastal city of Kochi in Kerala, in the emerald Arabian sea.

Climatic conditions are similarto that of Kerala coast. Average rainfall is 1600mma year with the major share from thesouthwest monsoon. Almost all islands experience tropical climate with temperature ranging from 25 degrees c to 35 degrees c and humidity ranging from 70 -76 per cent during the most part of the year. March, April and May are the hottest months of the year.

There is silence here, unbroken but for the cry of a seabird, or by the soft paddle of a local canoe as it moves gently over the waves the water is so clear that one can see the fish among the coral; while snorkelling or deep sea diving, these waters come alive with amazing clarity and colour! A polluting free, the only coral island is the Rama Rajya of the great country of india

History

Not much is known of the early history of Lakshadweep. However, enough evidence exists to piece together a history of the islands from the 7th century onwards. The people were converted to Islam under the influence of Hazrat Ubaidullah who set off from Mecca after Prophet Mohammed (S.A.S) appeared to him in a dream, commanding him to leave for distant shores to propagate Islam. The ship on which Hazrat Ubaidulla was sailing was wrecked and after drifting on a plank of wood he reached the island of Amini where his mission met with fierce opposition.

After many difficulties he was able to carry out his mission, and to this day, the people of Lakshadweep follow Islam. Traces of the old culture still linger however; despite the influence of Islam, caste system still prevails based on occupation- landowners, sailors and cultivators. Although Madrassas in all the islands impart religious instruction to school going children, many individuals bear two names.

Culture

Ethnically the people of the islands are very similar to the people of Kerala even their languages is the same except in Minicoy where Mahl is spoken. As Muslims, they have conservative customs and traditions and yet they are liberal in approach. 93% of the popultion are indigenous Muslims. According to 1991 census, population is 51707.

History comes alive in folk ballads that women chant during their house - hold chores. Events of the past  - the arrival of Hazrat Ubaidulla in Lakshadweep, the plunder of the islands by the Portuguese, have been perpetuated by the balladeer.

Smiling and friendly people. Nobody is tip-minded. The place in the world to go for a walk, with no dogs and no poisonous snakes either. The people of Lakshadweep are often commended for their honesty. The absence of crime in the islands is laudable. The most obvious testimony to this is the profusion of gold ornaments worn by the women - heavy ear rings and necklaces. The fact that very young children are allowed to wander around alone wearing chunky jewellery is a pointer to a way of life that one hopes will continue into the future.The young men have some spirited folk dances. The women are modest with colourful dress and wear their jewellery in safety. The people of Minicoy have a good sense of colour, painting their houses, furniture and boats in bright and tasteful combinations. Seamen from Minicoy are to be found on merchant ship all over the world.

Tourism

Tourism in these islands is restricted so that their beautiful environment is not damaged. As guests on these islands you will have the chance to meet some of the friendliest people and, like them, stay in cottages made of indigenous materials with their palm thatched roofs. You will have the chance to commune with nature in virtual solitude on a holiday that will be different from any other you've even enjoyed. The Lakshadweep islands provide an experience that can never fully be explained in words or captured on film.

To ensure that the way of life of the islands is not disturbed by external influences, only four islands have opened for domestic tourism and one Viz. Bangaram opened for International Tourism.

The administrative capital, Kavaratti is the most developed of the islands with the highest percentage of non-islanders as residents. Fifty two mosques are spread out over the island, the most beautiful being the Ujra mosque. A well, within its precincts, is believed to contain water of curative powers. The Ujra mosque has an ornately carved ceiling, said to have been carved from a piece of driftwood. Kavaratti also has an aquarium with several colourful species of fish.

There is a glass bottom boat for viewing marine life and an array of remarkable coral formations that provides a background to the lagoons and the islands within them. Some Water Sports like Kayaking Canoeing and Snorkeling are available for tourists.

Kalpeni has three uninhabited satellite islands, all surrounded by an immense lagoon of spectacular beauty. Sunlight on the water causes it to sparkle and flash like a million aquamarines. Koomel, the gently curving bay where the tourist facilities are located, directly overlooks Pitti and Thilakkam, two of the islands. Here you can swim, reef walk, snorkel or use water sports equipment like kayaks, and sail boats. Now the tourist facilities have been augmented and tourists can stay on the island in privately managed huts, depending on the package. This lagoon is specially rich in coral life.

A particularly fine lagoon, of even depth and an endless shoreline, perfect for swimming, makes Kadmat a haven of solitude., The tourist huts are situated some distance away from habitation, with only the splash of the waves to break the silence. During the day, when the beat of the overhead sun becomes too strong, the feathery network of coconut palms provides a canopy throughout the island, through which light dimly filters, green and cool. It is the only island with lagoons on both eastern and western sides. A Water Sports Institute providing water sports facilities has been set up in Kadmat. Accommodation consists of AC and non AC tourist huts aesthetically situated in the coconut palm groves on the beaches. The island is becoming increasingly popular for honeymooners. As a testimony to its Water Sports potential, a Scuba Diving Centre has been set up there.

Furthest from Kavaratti island, 200 Km. away to the south and also nearer to the Maldives, Minicoy has a lighthouse built by the British in 1885. Visitors are allowed up, right to the very top. Words cannot do justice to the incredible size of the lagoon, one of the largest in Lakshadweep, the green of coconut trees, and the mirror-like surface of an inland lake as it nestles in one corner of the island. Minicoy has a culture very different from any other island - dress, language, food, all differ. Minicoy has a cluster of 10 villages, which are called Athiris, each presided over by a Moopan. A walk through the winding lanes of the villages is an indication of the culture here. Minicoy is renowned for its dance tradition: the lava dance is performed on festive occasions. There is a tuna canning factory - signifying its importance in tuna fishing and boat building activity. Privately managed cottages have been built on the isolated beaches and are available for tourists.

Agatti has one of the most beautiful lagoons in Lakshadweep. This is where the airport is built. A virtual gateway of Lakshadweep, a 20 bed tourist complex has been set up here. The island will shortly be opened for tourists.

There is something indescribably romantic about the very notion of an uninhabited island and Bangaram justifies that feeling. Tear-drop shaped, it is encircled by a continuous halo of creamy sand. Like all the other islands of Lakshadweep, luxuriant plantations of coconut provide coolness even during the hottest part of the day. There are three uninhabited islands in the same atoll consisting of Tinnakara, Parali-I, Parali-II, each easily accessible by outboarding, sailing rowing and for the athletic, by kayaking or wind-surfing from Bangaram perfect for a day's outing. All the islands share the same lagoon, an enormous bowl of turquoise blue. At twilight, the setting sun, a ball of crimson in a flaming sky, casts its reflection on the water, and with the ever present coconut palms as a black silhouette, Bangaram is at the height of its allure. That is the hour when every visitor promises himself another visit someday.But that is not all. The warm, clear, deep waters of the Indian Ocean with its myriad marine flora and fauna are an irresistable invitation to the scuba diving fraternity of the world. The exquisite coral formations including the black coral formations, the large variety and number of coral fish-the angel, the clown, the butterfly, the surgeon, the groupers, not to mention the abundance of the awesome, but harmless sharks, mantarays, sting rays, moray eels (morena) and turtles, make diving here an addictive experience, enough to make impressive any diver's logbook with the stamp of the Diving School at Bangaram.

And quite important too is the philosophy of preservation of marine life in its state of indigenous purity, where the coral and the shell are left undisturbed and the fish merely observed. The more venturesome, however may espy a sleeping nurse-shark, as commonly seen as the grey and the white tipped or play with a friendly turtle.

The Bangaram Island Resort is fast becoming a by-word among the island hoppers of the world. Opened only recently to foreign tourists the resort with its simple, but attractive housing has already become a circled spot in the brochures of tour operators and travel agencies all over. 

The spell bound expanse of emerald isles, Lakshadweep studded in the blue water of the Arabian sea unfolds another world in itself. The panorama encompasses magnificent lagoons, sylvan sea shores, miles of sun drenched sand and the enchantment of swaying palms. All these harmonise to form a colourful kaleidoscope typical of an archipelago paradise. This charming isolated destination has only 10 of its islands inhabited. Of these five are open to tourists:

The flora of the islands include Banana, Vazha,(Musaparadisiaca), Colocassia, Chambu (Colocassia antiquarum) Drumstic moringakkai (Moringa Oleifera) , Bread Fruit, Chakka (Artocarpus incisa) wild almond (Terminalia Catappa) which are grown extensively. Some of the shrub jungles plant like Kanni (Scaevolakeeningil), Punna, (Calaphylluminophyllum), Chavok(Casurina equisetifolia), Cheerani (Thespesia Populnea) are unevenly grown throughout  the island. Coconut, Thenga (Cacos nucifera) is the only crop of economic importance in Lakshadweep. These are found in different varieties such as Laccadive micro, Laccadive ordinary,  green dwarf etc. Two different varieties of sea grass are seen adjacent to the beaches. They are known as Thalassia hemprichin and Cymodocea isoetifolia. They prevent sea erosion and movement of the beach sediments. 

The marine life of the sea is quite elaborate and difficult to condense. The commonly seen vertebrates are cattle and poultry. Oceanic birds generally found in Lakshadweep are Tharathasi (Sterna fuscata) and Karifetu (Anous solidus). They are generally found in one of the uninhabited islands known as PITTI. This island has been declared as a bird sanctuary.
Molluscan forms are also important from the economic point of  the islands. The money cowrie (cypraea monita) are also found in abundance in the shallow lagoons and reefs of the islands. Other cypraeds found here are cypraca talpa and cyprea maculiferra. Among crabs, the hermit crab is the most common. Colorful coral fish such as parrot fish (Callyedon sordidus), Butterfly fish (Chaetodon auriga), Surgeon fish (Acanthurus lineotus) are also found in plenty. 

(Chaetodon auriga) locally known as "Fakkikadia".(Anus solidus piletus) locally known as "Karifettu".(Artocarpus Incise) locally known as "Chakka" The predominance of women folk in all walks of life is a peculiar feature of Minicoy. The husband takes the wife's family name after marriage. All family affairs are managed by the female of the house. 

Most males being the bread-winners of the family serve in international ships as seamen. The famous traveller Marco Polo(1254-1324) in his travelogue  made a reference to Minicoy as the island of females. The turkish traveller Ibnu Bathuta touched Minicoy while on his way to Maldives and married two women and stayed there for one month. In the village (Athiri) administration, the  ladies have an important role. The female Chief(Boduthatha) is the head of the women's assembly who organizes Women's labour for common purposes in the "Athiri"

The light house of the island  is one of the oldest and was constructed in 1885. You will be taken to the villages, tuna canning factory, the light house and for a long drive through dense coconut groves and winding village roads. The beaches have bathing huts and change rooms; so swim and beach walk, Pedal boat, Kayak and Sail. We provide these on hire. Tourist cottages and one 20 bedded tourist home have been constructed for the staying tourists. This island is part of Coral Reef and Swaying Palm packages.  enjoying sea breeze and moonlit beach. Water sports crafts like kayaks, pedal boats, sailing yachts, skiing boats  and glass bottomed boats are available on hire. The scuba diving centre in the island has become an attraction for water-sport enthusiasts. 

It is obvious that land animals and plants have not made these islands popular with nature lovers; the real beauty and variety lies in the underwater zone, just as it is to be found in the changing color of the sky above.

The creator of all the underwater beauty is the polyp that is truly the architect and engineer of the coral reef. It secretes a cup-like calcareous skeleton into which it can withdraw. Multiplying by successive budding, an intricate structure of polyp cups is eventually formed and is attached to a submerged rock platform. The colony grows whenever the depth is short enough for light to pierce, a condition, which prevails in shallow lagoons.

Eventually reefs are formed and these enclose shallow saltwater lakes called lagoons. Soon the decayed and dead coral is broken into fragments and sediments of decaying organic matter, which, along with droppings of birds, combine with it on the reef to give a fertile soil.

Since the rate of nutrient turnover is high, the variety of animal life that establishes itself in the atoll environment is indeed vast. Coral reefs and lagoons shelter the most complex and organized community of living creatures of the sea.

It is impossible to forget the sight of the shoals of tiny but colorful fish darting in and out of coral branches or languid anemones. Lakshadweep reefs abound in more than a thousand species of fish, all dazzling in color and weird in pattern and shape.

To heighten the sense of adventure of a skin diver, deadly rays are often seen on the shallows of reef flats. These, along with the poisonous stonefish, camouflage themselves so effectively on coral ledges and rocks that they are almost impossible to make out.

Seashells are a constant source of delight for a visitor. The reef flats are almost totally exposed except for shallow tide pools at low tide. A trip to them is immediately rewarding: attached to rocks or stones are the hydroids, sponges, corals and sea anemones. Trapped between the tides, taking shelter under boulders or in shallow pools, are bottom dwelling marine invertebrates like sea stars, sea urchins, sand dollars and sea cucumbers.

 Make sure your reservation of tour before leaving your station. Carry your special brand cigarettes, cosmetics etc. for use as only ordinary varieties will be available on the islands. While in the ship, a representative of  SPORTS has been specially designated to assist you. In case of any difficulty, please avail of his services.

• Litter the land or the water
• Pick any coral - it is a punishable offence.
• There is prohibition on all islands except Bangaram
• Take drugs or narcotics  - it is a punishable offence.
• Swim or sunbathe nude-it is prohibited
• Go out of your island lagoon without permission of the SPORTS authorities and a proper escort - it can be risky
• Pluck tender coconuts yourself. A fall can prove dangerous. The trees are privately owned and unauthorized plucking of coconut  is a theft.

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