Chagos - by Zeke

In Chagos our day starts with reading, then getting up and having a swim which includes either swinging off the side with Dad yelling like a madman or snorkeling over the reefs that surround our boat. Nina, although she doesn’t admit it, is scared of fish. If they come with in 20cm of her she starts madly kicking at them.

Breakfast is next then followed by three hours of school. When school has finished we normally just lay around reading for an hour or two.

After having lunch I leave Mum, Dad and Nina to read their books while I go off sailing in MY dinghy. Arriving back the family goes for a walk and sees coconut crabs, rats, and ruins of the old town, which you can read all about in Dads
extremely boring piece on Chagos.


Back on the boat we all sit down and eat cheese and biscuits and drink juice and discuss where we are going to snorkel in the morning. About now Mum goes below and starts making dinner. After dinner Nina or I have to do the dishes depending on who’s turn it is. We all then say our good nights and fall asleep only to wake up and do it again.

Week ends are different in only a few ways ,after snorkeling and swinging we lay a round and do nothing and continue with the normal routine. Other things that might happen though out the day include RC car racing against the clock, RC sailing boat races against Nina, fishing, model making, hermit crab racing, lego, technical drawing, board games, watching a movie on our flat screen TV and playing on the computer.




Now you can see for yourself:

Our Visit to Chagos - Gary

The BIOT administrators allow yachts to visit Chagos under permit, although clearly the bureaucrats in London do not place us in high regard making it harder and harder to obtain one.   They are continuously raising the bar on conditions .  By contrast the Royal Marines who are charged with policing the islands were charming, welcoming hosts.  

Two atolls are made available to visitors, both of which were previously settled by Chagosians, specifically Salomon and Peros Banhos.  Diego Garcia (where the military base is) is closed for security reasons, and all the other atolls are closed to facilitate nature conservation.

We stayed at Salomon anchoring directly off Boddam Island where the atolls settlement once stood. Of the anchorages made available this offers by far the best protection.

Map of Chagos (British Indian Ocean Territory) and aerial of the anchorage of Boddam Island (you can see yachts anchored).  This is where we stayed.

As you might have guessed from my introductory piece, the aspect of our stay I found most fascinating was the story of the Chagos Islanders and the remnants of their material culture slowly being reclaimed by the jungle.  We were lucky, a fellow yachtsman gave us a series of annotated photos collected by British scientists who have carried out extensive natural history surveys in the BIOT – this is the source of the old photos presented here.  The regrowth is so thick that it is now impossible to replicate the camera angles used.

1963.  The Boddam Island settlement taken from the jetty.  Behind the tree is the manager’s house, and on the right a cross and copra godown.  Copra was transported between the processing areas, godown and wharf on donkey drawn railway cars.

2012.  The same cross, surrounded by lush regrowth (A party of Chagossians was permitted to return for a visit in 2006 and again in 2009 and have obviously undertaken maintenance of selected sites including this cross).

2012.  The remains of the copra godown and railway.

1963.  In the background are crushing/pressing units?? (there are two, one looks like a big hammer on the right of this photo with a bit of galv iron on top at an odd angle), a flag pole, copra drying area (the series of low roofs behind the wall), church (obvious), and hospital (building with verandah to right of church).

2012.  These are the crushing/pressing units (??) captured in the above 1963 photo. In some notes we have is a reference to the use of donkeys for pressing oil from the copra.  These cast iron vessels are securely bolted to a concrete pad set in low circular stone plinths, and both have drain holes low down (crab home).  As you can see, whatever they once were they make good yachty incinerators.

 Flagpole support.

2012.  Remains of the church and hospital (bottom right).  The church is the best preserved of all the buildings

1963. Boddam jetty.

2012. Boddam jetty.

1963.  Boddam residents, boat shed and copra godown.

2012.  Remains of the boat shed, now the yachtee laundry and clothes drying area 

1978/79.  Boddam managers house, still standing when this photo was taken it is now no more.  Built almost entirely of timber, all that remains is the coral stone plinth which once supported the verandah.

2012.  Boddam cemetery.

Scattered through the bush are the remains of many other buildings including the school, goal, and workshops, relic machinery and quite a few surviving exotic garden plants and trees.


PHOTOS
Thanks is extended to the other photographers which may or may not include:
Chas Anderson, Kirby Crawford, David Dixon
Mont Hirons, Rebecca Klaus, Ted Morris
Goetz Reineke, Charles and Anne Sheppard
Mark Spalding, Donald Taylor, John Topp

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The Chagosians – my summary of their story - Gary

Every place has its human story – but none more strange or tragic than that of Chagos and its people forced in to exile in the early 1970s.

“A shocking recent act of imperial arrogance”

is how one journalist has described the hand the UK and USA sprang upon the unsuspecting Chagosians.

The Islands
Chagos is an archiplelago of 65 tiny coral islands surrounding a series of atolls and lying dead centre of the equatorial Indian Ocean.  First settled in 1793 (only 5 years after the First Fleet brought European settlers to Australia’s Botany Bay) the New Chagosians were slaves and lepers, brought to these islands from Mauritius to establish coconut plantations.  Emancipated in 1838, the former slaves were at intervals joined by fresh waves of emigrants from Africa, Madagascar and India to work company plantations.

The Culture
The archipelago, for most of its settled history, has been administered by the British, first as part of the Seychelles and then as part of the colony of Mauritius.  The plantations were held under lease and then as freehold, first by a Mauritian Company, and then by a wealthy Seychelleese family company.  The Chagosians were essentially company employees or their dependents.  Workers were paid wages (mostly in the form of basic goods and provisions), but also limited cash, held for individuals until sufficient had accumulated for them to travel to Mauritius to purchase additional needs.  Families maintained gardens for fresh fruit and vegetable, raised chickens and supplemented their diet by fishing.  Ships came regularly, delivering mail and supplies and taking the coconut products.  Settlement focused on three main towns on the atolls of Diego Garcia, Salomon and Peros Banhos where copra processing and storage facilities and wharfs were located.  Community facilities included schools, churches, hospitals and graveyards.  At its peak, around 1970, the population numbered around 2000 people.  The Chagosians had by then evolved their own distinctive language and culture and many could trace their lineage back to the earliest days of settlement.  The Chagosians might be considered just company employees (of a company likely headed for bankruptcy), but increasingly they were also gaining many of the characteristics of nationhood. But things were about to change.

A Strategic Neccessity
In the midst of the cold war, with the British withdrawing from Asia and closing bases in Sri Lanka and the Maldives, the US decided upon the strategic necessity of an Indian Ocean base to protect the flow of Gulf oil.  In 1964, following a feasibility survey, Chagos became the location of choice, but a US requisite was that it be sans Chagosians.  Mauritius was at the time a self governing colony moving towards independence, so a first requirement was for the British to decouple Chagos from Mauritius via a payment of £3 million.  So in 1965 the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) came into existence – Chagos now had a new name!  In 1966 the British secretly reached an agreement with the US on a 50 year lease to develop any island of the BIOT for defense purposes.  In 1967 the British purchased all the plantation company’s BIOT assets from its Seychellian owners and progressively closed down the plantations and arrival of supply ships.  On April 1971 the UK quietly issued a policy called BIOT Immigration Ordinance #1 which made it a criminal offence for those without military clearance to be on the islands without a permit.  During that same year the US commenced construction of a major military base on Diego Garcia. By 1973 all the Chagosians had been removed, by force if necessary, from their homes, heritage and way of life, and their houses, stock and domestic pets systematically destroyed.

Without ceremony the now homeless, voiceless Chagosians were deposited upon the docks in either Mauritius or the Seychelles.  Largely destitute, with little education and not speaking the language of these host countries, the Chagosians were largely confined to the fringes of these societies, living in slums.  Many are still there.  But they have slowly developed a voice and are fighting back!

Fightback!
Some compensation has been forthcoming, first £650,000 in 1973 (though not distributed until 1978!) and then £4 million in 1982.  In November 2000 the UK High Court ruled that the expulsion of the Chagosians was unlawful and conferred on them the right of return.  But the Chagosians were going to need assistance to return and before this could happen, in 2004, orders were passed by the UK Parliament removing this right of return.  In 2006 these orders were overturned by the High Court, returning to Chagosians their right of return.  The UK government appealed this ruling but was defeated in the Court of Appeal.  The judges called the treatment of islanders “unlawful and an abuse of power”.  But the government still had a strong backstop, taking its appeal to the House of Lords, which in 2008 overturned the High Court.  The Chagosians again lost their right of return!  But still they fight on.

They currently have at least two more irons in the fire.  The Chagosians have taken their case to the European Court of Human Rights and await a judgment there.  The UK government, dogged to the last, has chosen to continue to fight on rather than reaching a ‘friendly settlement’ as this jurisdiction proposed.  As well on 4 April 2012 a petition was lodged with the US White House asking the US to consider the plight of the people of Chagos.

Conclusion
I wonder that we ask some people in the world to pay too high a price for the charmed existence us Westerners enjoy. Certainly as a family we all agreed that if it was indeed necessary then the whole exercise could at least have been done a whole lot better.

The settlement of East Point on the atoll of Diego Garcia, as it existed in 1968 

Top: arrival of mail, bottom: husking coconuts, both Diego Garcia 1963 

Approaching the military base ‘Camp Justice’ on the atoll of Diego Garcia.

Photos of the base taken between 1986 and 1999.  The base is now the only place of human habitation remaining in the BIOT.

PHOTOS
Thanks is extended to the photographers which may or may not include:
Chas Anderson, Kirby Crawford, David Dixon
Mont Hirons, Rebecca Klaus, Ted Morris
Goetz Reineke, Charles and Anne Sheppard
Mark Spalding, Donald Taylor, John Topp

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Gan, Maldives (by Gary)

We hadn’t planned on going to the Maldives, a nation comprising 162 coral atolls encircled by 1192 tiny islands.  Not terribly yacht friendly is the reputation.  A cruising permit costs around a US$1,000, which didn’t seem great value, particularly because we’d heard that the over 100 tourist resorts - scattered through the prettiest, most sheltered locations - make it clear they do not want yachts parked out front.

But the passage south from Sri Lanka is notorious for light wind/no wind, and it seemed as if a refuelling stop would be good.  So when we heard that a much cheaper 3 day or slightly more expensive one week option was possible in the southern most island of the southern most atoll we went for it.  This is what brought us to the island of Gan, Addu Atoll.

And what a surprise it has been!  The town (Addu City!) is just delightful.  It is easily the cleanest, tidiest, calmest place we have seen in all of Asia.  No touts, no garbage, no stink of effluent, no suicidal traffic, no press of humanity wanting to make a withdrawal from us, the walking ATMs.  Just equatorial peace and tranquility.

Gan is typical of islands surrounding atolls, it is tiny (2.25 km²), flat and barely above sea level – the Maldives is reputedly the flattest nation on earth, with a maximum elevation of 2.3m.

Easily the most bike friendly place since Cairns Qld – we rode everywhere, even at night. 

Gan is the site of a former British navy and airforce base – first established during WW2 the British only withdrew in 1976.  Military’s barracks, officer housing, mess halls and godowns still survive.  Most have been recycled for other purposes – including for a budget resort.  The airfield is now an international airport supporting the tourist industry – by far the most important sector of the Maldivian economy.

A series of causeways (another legacy of the British) link the four most populated islands of Addu Atoll together.  

The backstreets of Addu City (pop. about 30,000) are a fascinating maize of narrow, crushed coral laneways lined with little houses and walled gardens – many constructed of coral rock.

The CBD of Addu City is a bit hard to pick – left above is the ‘high rise’ section.  Taken early morning, it was mostly deserted as are most of the town’s cafes and restaurants.

Everywhere around town are these amazing steel framed public seating areas, but in the heat of the day they are deserted!

But come the cool of late afternoon the town comes alive!

The towns cafes and restaurants fill up ...

... the public seating is suddenly near capacity...

... and the footpaths become the locus of fierce competitions.

But just in case you think it’s all tropical paradise – think again.  Civil unrest often bubbles just below the surface in the Maldives.  Just weeks before we arrived the democratically elected government was toppled by a police supported coup.  The community of Addu City was so incensed they rioted, torching the city’s several police stations and some other public buildings.

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Sri Lankan Transport – by Vicki

Transport in Sri Lanka comes in many shapes and sizes, they vary from plain to colourful and some are highly accessorised. Most vehicles have horns that are frequently used. Speed is not a determining factor in choice of transport given that the maximum speed limit is 60km, except on the nations single tollway where the limit is 110km.

Buses
Buses are kings of the roads. Buses are the most common mode of transport in the urban fringe, outside towns and in rural areas - they are large, arthritic old rust-buckets, cheap, noisy and often very crowded. They toot as they are about to pass, heading for any gap in the traffic...watch-out!

A miss is as good as a mile!

Tuk-tuks
Short trips in cities, towns and villages are usually undertaken in tuk-tuks. These three wheeled vehicles are made in India and are mostly red, green or black. We had fun tuk-tuk spotting and also saw florescent green, blue, yellow, orange, metallic pink, purple, beige, white and turquoise. Tuk-tuk spotting also extended to accessories and adornments, such as: florescent stickers and slogans; flowers; coloured LED lights; multiple mirrors; boom boxes; twirly chrome handholds and driver barriers; and roof racks carrying surfboards.

There is no limit to the number of people a tuk-tuk will carry – arms and legs inside please. Our family used them for city shopping and even a day tour around Galle’s main roads, back and side roads. We found them convenient and fun and enjoyed weaving through the traffic and (sometimes) up streets the wrong way. They are amazingly strong – toting four of us and our driver up some short steep hills. Prices for a tuk-tuk are negotiated, by the kilometre or by the hour. In Galle we generally used the same tuk-tuk driver and paid 400Rs per hour.

In every town or village tuk-tuks will line up, competing for fares. Major events like the England versus Sri Lanka Test Match (March 2012) saw the tuk-tuks lined up two and three deep encircling the cricket ground.

Move it, move it.
Trucks in Sri Lanka fall into two categories – modern monochrome or those that are older and individualised. Rural transport carriers with their box sides provide multiple surfaces for artistic expression – colour dominates and also utilises the company name in the design. We enjoyed seeing these slow trucks on our travels across the lowlands and highlands of Sri Lanka.

One of the more unusual transport carriers, though common in Sri Lanka, were the cultivator front-ends with trailers. These small machines could haul large loads of rice – we marvelled at how large some were. These carriers could also be seen in urban areas and in rural environs.

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TEA - A Report by Zeke