Limestone Cave Baratang

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There is a limestone cave in Baratang on the central Andaman Islands. The waterway runs through the creek, crossing the mangrove jungle to reach the cave.

Leaving Port Blair that morning, I reached Jirkatang, 50 km away, just before dawn. Entering from here, I entered the Jarawa Reserve Forest which is under police guard. The Andaman Trunk Road runs through the jungle. This road connects South Andaman to North Andaman. The road is made up of Light hilly path through dense forest. On the side of the road, we came across four-five Jarwas. The Jarawas are one of the most ancient and mysterious tribes in the country but are still not part of the civilized society. It is forbidden to go down in this forest or take pictures of Jarawa. The southern Andaman Islands and the road end at the end of the forest. In front is a huge wide gorge ‘Middle Strait’ between the two islands. Baratang is on the island of Middle Andaman on the other side of the creek with buses and cars across the creek.

Upon my arrival in Andaman, all kinds of water transport were terminated due to continuous stormy rains. On the way to Baratang, I was happy to see the blue sky. Arriving at Baratang, I was more than happy to learn that this was just an administrative instruction for speed boat service, so I had to go up to see the Limestone Cave. I bought a ticket, put on my life jacket, and floated on the speed boat. The speed boat cut the water of the creek and proceeded loudly. The blue sky above the head was saying goodbye to the clouds. I saw dense green mangrove forest on both sides. It was turning out to be a very beautiful and exciting voyage. On some places the mangrove trees were absolutely bent over the water. A narrow creek had entered into the jungle; it was a bit like the mangrove creek of the Sundarbans or the interior. After twenty minutes of journey, the speed boat stopped at one place on the bank, it was one and a half km walk from there to the cave. The path went first through a little jungle. There were beautiful and rustic trees on both sides, with their roots rising above from the ground. I crossed a few bridges made of bamboo. There were green fields and villages on one side of the road after crossing the forest. Finally I crossed the rocky ascent and reached the limestone cave.

The cave had a lot of stalactite. Our guide was a boy who came with us on the boat. He entered the dark cave with the help of the battery torch light in his hand. Various natural sculptures have been made inside the cave. Some sculptures were made out of imagination such Elephant’s head, Ganesha’s idol, various gods and goddesses, etc. There are many more such caves in India. The caves at Baratang is smaller in size when compared to the Bora Caves in Andhra Pradesh and the Mausmai Cave in Meghalaya. However, visiting such caves in such an environment in the Andaman is totally worth it. The journey to get there is even more thrilling.

-Shubhanshu Dasgupta-

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