Interview Island

Interview Island  

     Interview Island, a windswept nature sanctuary off the remote northwest coast of middle Andaman Mayabunder known for the presence of feral elephants, with an area of about 133 sq.Km  can be described by the following geo- coordinates.

 N 12⁰14'15'' to 12⁰59'02'' & E 92⁰39'04'' to 92⁰43'23''

The island was declared  a wildlife sanctuary in 1985  for the protection  and propagation of elephants, and opened  to tourists in 1997. It is a large, mainly flat except for steep rugged hills towards the south west and completely uninhabited islands  with  a handful of  forest wardens,  and police men’s, posted here to ward off it from poachers.  The island is surrounded by fringing coral reefs. The whole islands is covered by dense evergreen forest & mangrove vegetation. Foreigners are not permitted to spend the night in the island, and to visit one must first obtain permission from the Chief Wildlife Warden in Port Blair. A person visiting Andamans to watch wildlife, should make a visit here once.

 The only way to reach Interview island is to charter a private fishing dinghy(country boat) from Mayabunder jetty.  Arrange one, the day before and leave at first light. It is an exciting journey which passes through the Austin creek, one of the longest creeks of these islands . It is about two hours journey, with lots of scenic beauty and mind blowing thrills. There is a forest camp, where you have to sign an entry ledger. Here one must  ask the forest wardens about the movements of Interview’s feral elephants,  deserted here by a Kolkata based logging company in the 1950s to avoid any incidence .

The major vegetation types in this sanctuary include Andaman tropical evergreen forest and varieties of mangroves. fauna found in the islands includes the feral elephant, spotted deer, barking deer, Andaman wild pig, civet cat, varieties of bats. Plenty  of birds can be seen in and around the island . This include Andaman wood pigeon, Andaman Drango, white-bellied sea eagle  ,Andaman Teal, Cotton Teal,  Lesser whistling Teal, Red cheeked parakeet,  Reef Heron, white collared Kingfisher, white bellied swiftlet, forest wagtail etc. Among all, the bird of particular interest is white-bellied swiftlet or the edible-nest swiftlet. This bird is known for making its nest purely from its saliva. These nests have very high commercial value because of its medicinal properties.

The reptile fauna includes variety of poisonous(Andaman Black Cobra) and non poisonous snakes, water monitor lizard, salt water crocodiles etc. Marine turtles also sometimes visit the island for nesting on the beaches. Some of the butterflies found here are Andaman Mormon, great Mormon, Andaman club tail, Great Jay, Tailed Jay, common rose, Purple sapphire  etc.

As per the  demand from the Maritime agencies for providing a Lighthouse on the southern tip of the island. The masonry structure for the lighthouse was constructed by 1993 and the  optical equipment with halogen lamp and solar charged batteries was installed over the structure in early 1994. It was commissioned into service on 31^st March 1994. The lighthouse was completely destroyed later on due to the devastating Tsunami & earthquake of 26th December 2004. But due to its strategic  importance a new  lighthouse was constructed later on at the same place of framed steel structure with optical equipment working on solar power. This is the only lighthouse in the western coast of the islands.

       There is a beautiful sweet water stream in the western side of the island near the lighthouse, beneath the hillock. The police camp is also situated nearby the stream and they use this water for their daily needs. Beside this the feral elephants  and other small animals also visit this stream occasionally for their water needs. The source of the stream is a mysterious one as it starts from the bottom of  a cave beneath the hillock, it feels like the water is flushed out from the bottom of the cave and meets to sea which is hardly about 400 meters away. A small concrete check Dam is constructed about 15 meter away from the source near the cave to store the water . The fresh flowing water of the stream  is  available  throughout the year.  A person visiting to this island must try to visit this island to quench his thirst of romantic  natural beauty.