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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