Raja Selvaraj

To The Top of Saddle Peak

Saddle Peak in North Andaman, is the highest point of the Andamans at 732 m.

At the entrance

We reached the entrance at 7 am, the official opening time although the officials at the gate told us we may be able to start earlier too. At this time of the year (December) it may be a good idea to start as eary as you can as it gets dark pretty early.

The Peak

Seen from below, the peak was almost always enveloped in clouds

The Forest Path

The true attraction of the trek is not the peak, but the forest on the way. The peak is located in a reserve forest and its a picturesque level forest walk for the first 100 minutes.

Hermit Crabs

The forest path never strayed far from the coast and you could hear the waves for most of the time. That and the numerous hermit crabs all along the path was quite unusual.

Lizard

Lizards were abundant on the trail.

Trees

And there were some magnificient, giant trees

Brown Lizard

From shades of grey and green at the beginning, we started seeing orange and brownish lizards as we climbed higher.

The Trail

The trail was well maintained in most places, and reminded me of trekking in Sikkim at places.

Spectacle Shop!

At the second of three viewpoints near the top. This plant appeared to be displaying spectacles for sale.

View from Near the Top

The third viewpoint has the best views of the bay. Lamia Bay where we started, the Kalipur beach and Craggy island were all well seen.

Summit

After the final viewpoint, the summit turned out to be frustratingly distant and, when reached, a little disappointing. No view because of the dense bushes all around. This small board was the only indication that we were at the top. It took us 5 hours to reach the top.

The Stream

This stream on the way looked inviting on the way back. It would have been a good place for a dip after we had been walking for more than 8 hours. But at 4 pm, light was beginning to fail and we wanted to reach the entrance before it was dark.