Interview Island Protected Area: Mapping the Geography of the Andaman Archipelago

Interview Island is best known for its small population of feral elephants that roam the forested interior of a remote Andaman island. These elephants are believed to be descendants of animals brought to the island for forestry work, which were later abandoned or left to range freely when operations ceased. Beyond the elephants, the island is also recognized for its largely undisturbed wooded plateau and its relative isolation within the Andaman archipelago. The combination of low human population, limited access, and forested landscape gives Interview Island a distinctive profile compared to more populated or developed islands in the chain.

Interview Island does not have a deeply documented colonial or settlement history in available sources, and its modern history is closely tied to forestry and wildlife monitoring rather than large-scale human habitation.

During the period when forestry operations were active in parts of the Andamans, elephants were brought to Interview Island to assist with timber work. After those operations wound down, the animals were reportedly left on the island, where they established a feral population that has since attracted attention from ecologists and naturalists.

In more recent decades, a lighthouse on the island's west coast served as a permanent human outpost, and until 2015 a small wildlife station operated there to monitor bird populations. Both had resident staff, including a lighthouse keeper drawn from the police. The lighthouse was severely damaged by the tsunami generated by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, which inundated much of the island, but it was later repaired.

At the end of 2015, the wildlife monitoring station was evacuated after its budget was discontinued. Since then, the permanent human footprint on Interview Island has been limited to a few forest wardens, police personnel, and coast guard staff tasked largely with anti-poaching duties. The island was opened to tourists in 1997 but has not developed into a visitor hub, remaining one of the more abandoned yet ecologically distinctive islands in the Andaman chain.

Interview Island has an elongated shape stretching roughly 23 kilometers from north to south, with a maximum width of nearly 7 kilometers. It covers about 101 square kilometers of land surrounded by the waters of the Bay of Bengal.

The topography is uneven across the island's length. The northern end of Interview Island is low-lying, with terrain that gradually rises as one moves southward. The interior culminates in a wooded plateau reaching about 113 meters, the highest point on the island. This plateau gives the southern half of the island a more elevated and consistently forested character compared to the flatter north.

The coastline is varied, with the west coast historically hosting the lighthouse and any associated settlement. The southern end of the island terminates in cliffs, with a small rocky pinnacle roughly 7 meters high lying close offshore just beyond them. A zone of foul ground extends about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) to the north-northeast of the island, creating navigational hazards for vessels approaching from that direction.

Interview Island's interior is dominated by forest that blankets much of the island and stretches up across the island's central plateau. This wooded cover, combined with low population pressure, gives the island an unusually intact landscape relative to more developed parts of the Andaman archipelago.

The transition from low northern terrain to a higher, forested southern plateau creates distinct vegetation zones within a relatively small area. Coastal habitats around the island include cliff environments at the southern tip and more sheltered fringes nearer the western settlements, while the inland plateau supports continuous tree cover that has historically provided habitat for both resident birds and large mammals.

The wildlife monitoring station maintained until the end of 2015 reflected the island's recognized value for birdlife and habitat observation. Even without an active monitoring station, the forested plateau and minimal disturbance continue to provide ecological conditions that support bird populations across the island.

The defining wildlife feature of Interview Island is its population of feral elephants. These animals are believed to descend from elephants originally brought to the island to assist with forestry operations. Once those operations ended, the elephants were left to range freely, and they have since established a self-sustaining presence in the island's forests.

Estimates of their numbers have varied. Early references suggested a population of 80 to 90 individuals, though more grounded observations indicate that the actual population is likely much smaller, probably on the order of about a dozen animals. Regardless of the exact count, the existence of a feral elephant population on a remote tropical island is rare and gives the island unique ecological significance.

The island has also been associated with birdlife monitoring. A dedicated wildlife station operated on Interview Island specifically to observe birds until it was evacuated at the end of 2015 when funding ran out. While detailed species records are not described in available sources, the presence of full-time monitoring indicates that the island supports bird populations of recognized interest to wildlife authorities.

Interview Island's conservation significance lies primarily in the unusual persistence of its feral elephant population and the relatively undisturbed state of its forested landscape. The island's low human population, absence of large-scale settlement, and limited infrastructure have helped preserve a wooded environment that would be hard to maintain on more developed islands in the Andaman chain.

The presence of a forest warden contingent, supported by police and coast guard personnel, plays an anti-poaching role rather than active habitat management. Their work helps to discourage illegal hunting and disturbance of wildlife, including the elephants that range across the interior plateau.

Although the dedicated wildlife monitoring station closed at the end of 2015 due to budgetary reasons, the island continues to function as a low-impact refuge where the combinaison of remoteness, forest cover, and minimal human pressure supports a distinctive ecological profile. The feral elephants in particular highlight Interview Island as a place where a non-native but established mammal population continues to exist under semi-wild conditions within an Indian tropical setting.

Interview Island has extremely limited contemporary cultural or human context. With only about sixteen residents recorded in the 2011 census, concentrated in a single small settlement on the eastern side of the island, there is no broad community or deep regional identity tied to the island in the way that exists on more populated Andaman neighbors.

The administrative context places Interview Island firmly within the Mayabunder taluk, connecting it culturally and administratively to the town of Mayabunder on nearby North Andaman Island. Travel between the two is by dinghy across Austen Strait, a journey of several hours that reinforces the closeness of Interview Island's small population to the mainland settlement hub while keeping the island itself culturally sparse.

There is little available documentation of indigenous Andamanese cultural presence specifically on Interview Island in modern sources, though the broader Andaman archipelago is well known for its indigenous heritage. The island's cultural footprint today is defined more by the presence of forest wardens, police, and coast guard staff than by any established local community.

Interview Island's standout features include its population of feral elephants, descendants of forestry elephants now ranging freely across a forested interior plateau. The island also offers a notably intact wooded landscape, rising gradually from low northern terrain to a wooded southern summit of about 113 meters.

Its extreme remoteness, reachable only by a multi-hour dinghy crossing from Mayabunder, and its very small population give the island a near-abandoned character that contrasts with busier Andaman destinations. The combination of minimal settlement, anti-poaching presence, and unusual wildlife makes Interview Island one of the more distinctive and least disturbed islands in the Andaman chain.

As a remote, lightly visited island in the tropical Bay of Bengal, weather and sea conditions are the most important seasonal factors for any potential visit. The Andaman Islands generally experience a warmer, more humid climate from roughly March through September, with the heaviest monsoon conditions typically affecting the region between May and September when rough seas and rainfall can complicate boat travel.

The cooler, drier months from around November to February tend to offer calmer seas and more comfortable temperatures, which is usually favorable for the several-hour dinghy crossing from Mayabunder across Austen Strait. Because access is by small boat and the island lacks developed tourist infrastructure, smoother sea conditions during these months would generally support both safer travel and easier exploration of coastal and interior areas.

Wildlife observation, including potential sightings of the island's feral elephants in the forested plateau, is likely easier during drier periods when vegetation cover is less dense and animals may be more visible around water sources, though no detailed seasonal wildlife patterns are documented for the island in available sources.