Trek To Saddle Peak

               Saddle peak is a popular trekking destination of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The complete area surrounding the Saddle Peak was also declared as a National Park in 1979.I t is  spreaded  over an area of 33 Sq. Km and completely covered by the thick tropical rain forest. The main vegetation is, generally conducive to humid, warm and wet tropical climates. The main animal spices in this park are Andaman wild pig, water monitor lizard and other general species. The important birds, found here are, Andaman hill Mynah and Imperial Pigeon. The best time to visit this place is November to March. It is situated in North Andaman, nearby a popular tourist destination place called Diglipur. One has to either travel by Bus or Ferry boat service to reach Diglipur which may take about 8 hours approximately .This distance is about 300 KM, towards north from the capital town, Port Blair, of these famous & great emerald islands.

Due to official works I had visited Diglipur several times, since 1994, and the idea of trekking to saddle peak also came in my mind several times. But as you know very well that nothing happens without the great blessings of the Almighty.(Lakh tadbeer kare banda to kya hota hai, vahi hota hai jo manjure khuda hota hai).

So, one great morning of 13th May 2013, when we (with one of my colleague Shri S.K Goenka) visited Diglipur enroute to East Island, the weather suddenly changed. Weather warning was issued for the public in the News papers. The fisherman’s were adviced not to venture into the sea. As soon as we reached Diglipur, we met our Dinghy-man sh. Jagannath and discussed with him about our next day's programme. He told us that since weather is cyclonic and sea is very rough, it is not possible to proceed further to East Island tomorrow or in next 2/3 days.

There was no other option than to sit at Diglipur and get bored by seeing or dreaming about weather. I started thinking, how to pass time at Diglipur, as it is a small town, and I have visited this place several times & nothing new is left here to visit from the tourist point of view. Everybody is busy in their routine jobs or work, and we don't have any work. Suddenly, an idea of trekking to saddle peak came in my mind and I shared it with my colleague and the dinghy-man .They, both welcomed my idea, and we planed accordingly, had food and came to our Hotel for planning the next day  schedule.

Next day i.e. on 14th May, we got up early in the morning & get ready for a lovely trek to peak .We took packed lunch and water and took a bus for a place called, Lamia Bay .We took necessary Forest permission and by that time Sh. Jagannath,  also reached there by motorbike along with one of his friend

A view of saddle peak.

Panoramic view from saddle Peak.

Namely Sh. Sukumar Das, a young chap of about 20 years age. Sh.Sukumar had already visited the saddle peak twice in recent years & familiar with the local trek journey to Saddle peak.

                We started our journey at 0700 hours sharply from Forest camp, Lamia Bay. On the way Sh.Sukumar told that we have to walk for about an hour to reach base of the saddle peak which is roughly 6 Km from Lamia bay and the path is through the Paddy fields, forest and near the sea coast. The distance is   5 Km from the base and the height of the peak is 732 mt. It took about an hour and fifteen minutes to reach the base of the peak .On the way Board/stone marking was there in several places indicating the path to Mountain peak. Here, we came across a small stream & the water of the stream was fresh, cool and potable.   We rested here for about ten minutes and started further trekking from the base. We saw a signboard of Forest Department indicating, Saddle Peak Distance 5 Km, Height 732 mt on the way. There were Steps made on the way, some of by Forest Department and some by the routine trips of officials by nature. Streep Trekking angle was around 40⁰ to 45⁰ & the path was full of dense forest with absolutely no wind movement. After a walk of about 20 minutes, I felt myself exhausted and started breathing heavily. I wanted to continue my trekking. I had a glimpse on all my trekking friends, they looked better than me. Then, I asked Sukumar, being a experienced person in the team, what to do under so tired condition. He replied "there is no need to worry, I have seen several persons getting exhausted, and later on they reached up to the top of the hill. I got here some energy, after taking some rest in between we trekked for two hours and finally reached a place from where we can see plenty of scenic beauty of green mountains. The place was little bit open and we could feel the wind blowing. Now I felt totally relaxed and normal. After reaching this highest point we felt fresh, happy and confident .We captured the scenic beauty in our mobile camera, as we have not brought any professional camera with us.

                We thought our trekking is over at this point, but when we asked Sh. Sukumar, he pointed to one side and said we have to trek further up to that hillock. Sh. Santosh anxiously said “It is too much height and it will take another two hours". Sh. Sukumar said" don't worry it will not take that much time, as we have to cover the distance with lesser inclination. We continued our trekking in the forest; the cool breeze was blowing and now no tiredness we feel at all. Here everything was nice, cool and impressive. At around   1145 hours, we reached top of the saddle peak. It was full of scenic beauty; we could see so many islands and peaks from this point. We also saw the cloud kissing our faces. It was mind blowing to see & feel the cotton like cloud moving here and there and sometimes touching us. The nearby villager's have made a small temple at this place and placed a "Shivling and Trishul” here for prayer. We also bowed our head here for a while and prayed for the peace & prosperity of our Great India. There was an open wooden elevated   structure, we sat there and took some snaps, had a phone call to our near & dears.  We also had our lunch here. We were full of joy and felt proud of ourselves for climbing this peak. We rested here for some time in the top of (Saddle peak) the Mother Nature and started our return journey back to the base of Mountain.

The return journey was also interesting and thrilling, as the rain started pouring and the whole path became slippery. We all were managing ourselves and trekking safely on this path with the help of long strong stick. Suddenly Inside the forest, darkness also increased due to clouds and rain. We were totally wet from top to bottom but still we were enjoying our return journey. It took us around three hours to reach the base point. Again, it took an hour to reach “Lamia bay “from base of the saddle peak. It was around 1630 hrs when we reached the Lamia Bay. We were totally tired, after a long trek our legs were paining. We had a cup of Tea at Lamia Bay and felt a little fresh & better. At around 1700 Hrs, we took a bus for Diglipur and finally reached our Hotel. We both were totally tired but we enjoyed a lot and this trekking will remain in our long memories for the whole life. A person visiting to this island must visit Saddle Peak as the scenic beauty from this peak is heavily fabulous and mind blowing.

On the elevated wooden platform