Activists slam return of human safaris in Andaman Islands

Court decision to reopen Andaman Trunk Road could lead to tourist influx into remote reserve that is home to the endangered Jarawa tribe

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A Jarawa tribesman seeks handouts from a bus on the Andaman Trunk Road, which is due to officially reopen. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:00am, 13 Mar 2013Updated: 1:02pm, 14 Mar 2013

A controversial road in the Indian Andaman Islands is set to reopen to tourists this week, heralding the resumption of notorious "human safaris" to view the Jarawa tribe.

The move, which has been condemned by advocates for the tribe, comes after India's Supreme Court last week authorised the reopening of the 360-kilometre Andaman Trunk Road (ATR) that cuts through a reserve for the aboriginal Jarawa. Activists say the decision, overturning an interim closure imposed in January, threatens the survival of the endangered community.

Indian laws on the protection of aboriginal tribes make it illegal to photograph the Jarawa or interact with them, said Jarawa rights activist Denis Giles. But the law has been routinely flouted - in one incident in 2011, a policemen was filmed telling near-naked Jarawa girls to dance.

Giles said bus and cab drivers, ostensibly taking tourists to coastal caves down the road, stopped their vehicles inside the Jarawa reserve to let tourists interact with the tribe.

"The regulation was flouted as every day hundreds of tourists attracted Jarawa people with biscuits, sweets and other tobacco products. Male tourists ogled the naked Jarawa girls and women, and made them pose and dance for their cameras," said Giles, who edits the based in Port Blair, the Andaman capital. "The trips were nothing but human safaris to see the Jarawa people."

Giles said yesterday that the road was expected to reopen in "a day or two".