Villas inside and out

The Jarawa people chose to resist contact with the external world until 1998. It was then when some started coming out of their forest to visit nearby settlements for the first time. A fatal move since the tribe ended up suffering an outbreak of measles: the disease that has wiped out many communities around the world following contact with outsiders.

They are a small tribe which, among others, live in the paradisical Andaman archipelago - a group of islands belonging to India in the middle of the Bay of Bengal that with its white sand beaches has become a top holiday destination.

Survival International - a charity that works with hundreds of tribal communities and organisations worldwide - has alerted for a long time of the danger of tourists contacting the Jarawa. A situation that is leaving this fragile community of around 300 individuals in an increasingly vulnerable position, as sightseeing tours turn into "human safaris."

The charity has now renewed its calls for a boycott of some tour operators who, according to them "treat the Jarawa like animals, encouraging tourists to 'spot' them and throw biscuits and sweets as they drive along the Andaman Trunk Road."

Built in the 1970s, the Andaman Trunk Road goes right through the Jarawa forest. A local Andaman organization called Search is working with Survival to put pressure on the Indian government to develop a new route away of the ancestral land of the tribe, which will not disturb the Jarawa.

Among the actions taken by Survival has been distributing leaflets at the islands' airport appealing for a tourism boycott of the road during this year's World Tourism week. They inform that four out of five of the Andamans' main tour operators have already come out in support of the initiative.

"The UN describes World Tourism Day as a chance to advance understanding and tolerance between peoples and cultures. Using the Andaman Trunk road destroys this message by threatening the health and well being of a whole tribe. An alternative route must be provided," said Survival's Director Stephen Corry.

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