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Mergui Archipelago – the world’s last tropical island
frontier
The Andaman coast of Thailand has scores of tropical islands, forming a
fabulous marine playground that attracts countless thousands of visitors
each year. But further up the coast, just across the border in Myanmar, one
of the wonders of the natural world slumbers, almost undisturbed.
Here is an archipelago of 800 islands of stunning, tropical beauty that man
has scarcely touched. Unlike the Thais, whose culture has tied them to water
and the oceans for centuries, the Burmese people have shunned the ocean, and
their inheritance of islands remains almost completely uninhabited, and in
near-pristine condition.
Throughout earth’s tropical belt there remains no other island group in such
a state, virtually untouched and unchanged by man. Exploding human
populations have brought permanent change or serious desecration to all
tropical regions, sparing almost no island that harbours forests, wildlife
or other significant resources.
Here in Myanmar the lack of human interference is believed to have left some
of the larger islands with the full range of animal life that is no longer
found undisturbed on the Asian mainland, including elephants, tigers, deer,
wild boar and many others. There is even talk of the near-extinct Sumatran
rhino quietly grazing the dense forests on Lampi, one of the largest of the
islands.
Myanmar’s archipelago has been protected by the same politics that have made
this nation an international outcast and held the country in a time warp,
unchanged and undeveloped through the last half century. Only in the past
five years has Myanmar’s military government begun to realise the value of
these islands, opening a small crack through which limited boatloads of
divers and adventure-hungry visitors can enter. But the future promises an
increasingly open policy and ever-growing numbers of tourists.
The big question on the minds of those lucky enough to have experienced this
amazingly pristine world is how will the Burmese develop their natural
treasure? Mass tourism and uncontrolled development of the kind epitomised
by Pattaya and Patong Beach in Thailand could swiftly turn these uncut
diamonds to shards of glass. Is there the wisdom and political will to
protect the natural state of the islands while exploiting the wealth they
promise impoverished Myanmar?
Other pages we offer on this topic:
Mergui Archipelago photo tour: This is a gallery of John Everingham’s
photographs showing some of the islands of the Mergui Archipelago, and the
sights one finds herein.
Touring the Mergui Archipelago with Jim Styers:
This is perhaps the only non-diving boat cruise into this natural
wonder-world.
The Moken: traditional sea gypsies of tropical Asia still roam the Mergui
Archipelago.
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