HOW TO REACH ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR

The union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands is situated in the ocean of Bay of Bengal towards the south-east of the mainland of India. This secluded union territory of India is linked to the rest of India by both sea and air thus facilitating travel to Andaman and Nicobar Islands .

•  By Ship

 The Andaman and Nicobar Islands stand in the midst of the Bay of Bengal. Passenger ships connect Kolkata, Chennai and Vishakhapatnam, which are major cities of mainland India with Port Blair. These ships are available on a regular basis and help one to make a tour to Andaman and Nicobar Islands . 

On an average, in a month, 3 or 4 ships are available from Chennai and Kolkata to travel to Port Blair. From Vishakhapatnam, one ship is available per month to travel to Port Blair. It takes around three days to reach Port Blair by sea. A ship generally halts for around 2 days at the seaport before leaving it to start a reverse journey, that is, from Port Blair to Kolkata, Chennai and Vishakhapatnam.

•  By Air

 To travel to the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, it is most convenient to avail the airport located at the capital city called Port Blair. From this place, one can easily travel to the important cities of mainland India like Chennai and Kolkata. Flights are operated regularly between Chennai, Kolkata and Port Blair. A few major airlines that operate such flights are Jet Airways, Indian Airlines and Air Deccan.

MONUMENTS OF ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR

cellular jail national memorial

Cellular Jail National Memorial at Port Blair is the most important monument of these islands. It has been a witness to the inhuman tortures meted out to the freedom fighters incarcerated in this Jail. Completed in 1906, this jail came to be known as 'cellular' because it is entirely made up of individual cells intended for the solitary confinement of the prisoners. Out of the 7 prongs, only three have survived and the place is now a pilgrimage for the people who love their motherland and its freedom. all freedom loving people, has been declared a National Memorial. After the First War of Independence in 1857, British transported the most unrelenting patriots to first the awful jails at Viper Island and then the Cellular Jail and most of them used to perish here itself. This was the reason that the place came to be known as Black Water Prison and 'Kala Pani'.

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose hoisted the tricolor flag to proclaim Independence on 30th December 1943 at a place near this three-storeyed jail where inhumane atrocities were meted out to the said-convicts or the most influential freedom fighters. It also houses a Museum, an Art gallery and a Photo gallery. Ross Island, the erstwhile capital of Andaman Islands during the British Raj period houses the colonial ruins of old buildings like Ballroom, Chief Commissioner's House, Govt. House, Church, Hospital, Bakery, Press, Swimming Pool and Troop Barracks that are all in dilapidated condition. During British occupation, the island was the seat of power and was developed into a self-equipped civilized town. It was Dr. Walker, Chairman of the Andaman Committee who established the infamous and the dreaded Penal Settlement with 200 convicts.

The British persuaded the tribal to live at Ross Island and established an Andaman Home for them in 1863. Later on,
these Andamanese were used to catch the escaping convicts. Navy has established a museum on the Island known as 'Smritika' depicting the history of the Island. It is difficult to imagine what has passed in this tiny, serene, beautiful Viper island where influential freedom fighters proclaimed as dangerous convicts were put in fetters and forced to work with them. Owing to the atrocious working conditions, the jail earned the notorious name of Viper Chain Gang Jail. Gallows were built here on top of a hillock so that all the prisoners can see the execution of the said-convicts. Sher Ali, the Pathan who murdered Lord Mayo was hanged at Viper Island.

Anthropological Museum at Phoenix Bay exhibits the life of the Paleolithic Islanders while Aquarium or Fisheries Museum exhibits species of marine life peculiar to the islands. Samudrika or Naval Marine Museum at Delanipur aims to create awareness on various aspects of oceanic environment and has a good collection of shells, corals and a few species of colorful fishes found in these islands. Zoological Survey of India Museum exhibit a good variety of sponges, corals, butterflies and centipedes while Forest Museum at Haddo offers an insight into forest activities through scale models and displays decorative wood pieces made up of Padauk, Marble, Peauma, Gurjan and Satin Wood.

BEACHES OF ANDAMAN & NICOBAR

The most popular Islands of this archipelago is Jolly Buoy Island in Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park that offers excellent underwater views of coral and marine life and is an ideal place for snorkeling, sea bathing and basking in the sun on the beach. Cinque Island offers opportunities for scuba diving, swimming, fishing and camping along with beautiful underwater coral gardens and unspoiled beaches especially a sand bar joining two islands. Red Skin Island in Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park offers a nice beach and spectacular views of corals and marine life. 38 km from Port Blair, Havelock Island offers virgin beach, unpolluted environment and camping facility. 135 km from Port Blair, Barren Island is the land only active volcano in India and its crater rises abruptly from the sea.




The most popular Islands of this archipelago is Jolly Buoy Island in Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park that offers excellent underwater views of coral and marine life and is an ideal place for snorkeling, sea bathing and basking in the sun on the beach. Cinque Island offers opportunities for scuba diving, swimming, fishing and camping along with beautiful underwater coral gardens and unspoiled beaches especially a sand bar joining two islands. Red Skin Island in Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park offers a nice beach and spectacular views of corals and marine life. 38 km from Port Blair, Havelock Island offers virgin beach, unpolluted environment and camping facility. 135 km from Port Blair, Barren Island is the land only active volcano in India and its crater rises abruptly from the sea.

Ross Island was once the seat of British power and capital of these Islands. The only things to be seen here today are ruins of the old structure and a small museum named 'Smritika' with photographs and the other antiques of the British related to these islands. Viper Island was once used by the British to harbor convicts and was the venue of the first jail constructed here. Chatham Island has the biggest and oldest Saw Mill in Asia and the Island Harbor. Haddo Harbor is also nearby.

Sandy beaches of Andaman & Nicobar Islands these islands are famous for turtle nesting and the aquatic life here includes Leather Back Turtle, Green Sea Turtle, Hawksbill Turtle, Olive Ridley Turtle, Water Monitor Lizard, Salt Water Crocodiles and Reticulate Python. Corbyn's Cove Tourism Complex is ideal for sea bathing and sun-basking. Radha nagar and Vijay nagar Beach in Havelock offer unpolluted environment while Harminder Bay Beach is situated at Hut Bay island, 100 km from Port Blair connected by Inter Islands shipping services. Karmatang Beach at Mayabunder is a turtle nesting ground doubling as a tourist complex. Ramnagar Beach at Diglipur Island is a sandy beach connected by two daily boat services from Mayabunder.

The most popular Islands of this archipelago is Jolly Buoy Island in Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park that offers excellent underwater views of coral and marine life and is an ideal place for snorkeling, sea bathing and basking in the sun on the beach. Cinque Island offers opportunities for scuba diving, swimming, fishing and camping along with beautiful underwater coral gardens and unspoiled beaches especially a sand bar joining two islands. Red Skin Island in Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park offers a nice beach and spectacular views of corals and marine life. 38 km from Port Blair, Havelock Island offers virgin beach, unpolluted environment and camping facility. 135 km from Port Blair, Barren Island is the land only active volcano in India and its crater rises abruptly from the sea.

Ross Island was once the seat of British power and capital of these Islands. The only things to be seen here today are ruins of the old structure and a small museum named 'Smritika' with photographs and the other antiques of the British related to these islands. Viper Island was once used by the British to harbor convicts and was the venue of the first jail constructed here. Chatham Island has the biggest and oldest Saw Mill in Asia and the Island Harbor. Haddo Harbor is also nearby.

Sandy beaches of Andaman & Nicobar Islands these islands are famous for turtle nesting and the aquatic life here includes Leather Back Turtle, Green Sea Turtle, Hawksbill Turtle, Olive Ridley Turtle, Water Monitor Lizard, Salt Water Crocodiles and Reticulate Python. Corbyn's Cove Tourism Complex is ideal for sea bathing and sun-basking. Radha nagar and Vijay nagar Beach in Havelock offer unpolluted environment while Harminder Bay Beach is situated at Hut Bay island, 100 km from Port Blair connected by Inter Islands shipping services. Karmatang Beach at Mayabunder is a turtle nesting ground doubling as a tourist complex. Ramnagar Beach at Diglipur Island is a sandy beach connected by two daily boat services from Mayabunder.

Ross Island was once the seat of British power and capital of these Islands. The only things to be seen here today are ruins of the old structure and a small museum named 'Smritika' with photographs and the other antiques of the British related to these islands. Viper Island was once used by the British to harbor convicts and was the venue of the first jail constructed here. Chatham Island has the biggest and oldest Saw Mill in Asia and the Island Harbor. Haddo Harbor is also nearby.

Sandy beaches of Andaman & Nicobar Islands these islands are famous for turtle nesting and the aquatic life here includes Leather Back Turtle, Green Sea Turtle, Hawksbill Turtle, Olive Ridley Turtle, Water Monitor Lizard, Salt Water Crocodiles and Reticulate Python. Corbyn's Cove Tourism Complex is ideal for sea bathing and sun-basking. Radha nagar and Vijay nagar Beach in Havelock offer unpolluted environment while Harminder Bay Beach is situated at Hut Bay island, 100 km from Port Blair connected by Inter Islands shipping services. Karmatang Beach at Mayabunder is a turtle nesting ground doubling as a tourist complex. Ramnagar Beach at Diglipur Island is a sandy beach connected by two daily boat services from Mayabunder.

ADVENTURE OF ANDAMAN & NICOBAR

Andaman Nicobar Islands offer several opportunities for adventure water sports like scuba diving, skiing, sailing, parasailing, wind surfing, snorkeling along with the options of trekking through their dense evergreen forests and island camping in the beach front forests. Andaman Water Sports Complex has a seawater swimming pool with a Change Room facility. It offers one several thrilling and exciting aqua-sport.

opportunities like water-skiing sail boats, windsurfing and speedboats along with the safer paddle-boar and row-boat rides. One can also see the Memorial for the Battle of Aberdeen here, which was fought between British and the Andamanee aboriginals in 1859. The amusement  park nearby offers roller coaster and other pleasure rides that leave you wanting for more.

Snorkeling is a great way to take a close look at the spectacular under-water marine life and the rarest varieties of corals in the Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park, Carbyn's Cove Tourism Complex, Havelock and other islands. One may hire tents from the nearby guesthouses and enjoy a quiet cozy beach holiday by Island Camping in the midst of the nature with tropical green forests, crystal clear blue waters of the sea and a pleasant and heart-warming sun. Trek through the nature trails from Mt Harriet to Madhuban and be the one to discover and glimpse some of the most rare flora and fauna found in the region. There are other delightful treks too. However, the best adventure activity of Andaman waters is undoubtedly Scuba Diving, which offers you a whole new world of under-water marine life including  Technicolor  fishes and rarest coral reefs in the world.

If you are lucky, you may also get to see the mysterious remains of sunken ships. Diving never ceases to fascinate and challenge one to the deeper and darker world of the seas. Underwater photography is a good way to store what you have seen and discovered forever. A  unique lifetime experience, the coastal water of these islands offer you the richest coral reef ecosystem in the world in its virgin form. The steep undulating hills of raven volcanic lava sloping steeply, the shallow reefs, large pelagic and a number of sharks, make diving all the more unusual and challenging. Some of the fishes that can be commonly seen here are Hammerheads, Grey, Whitetip, Nurse and Leopard sharks along with Silvertip, Ocean Whitetips and enormous Manta Rays.

The popular dive sites neat South Andaman Island or Port Blair are Cinque Island considered one of the best dive destinations in the island with clear emerald water and visibility up to 80 feet. The deep dive is mostly for experienced divers and features black corals and sightings of sharks. Sponges, small corals and diverse type of fishes highlight North Point here while Southeast Reef is a good site for novices and consists of hard and soft corals. It features large fan of corals and a number of sponges along with small bushy multihued soft corals below 25m. It features Grey and Whitetip Reef and Reef Sharks, Nurse Sharks, Eagle Rays, Potato Cods, large coral groupers, Fusiliers, Suitlips, Turtles, Batfish, Bumpheads, Parrotfish, Squirrelfish, Oriental Sweetlips, Surgeonfish, Yellow Triggerfish, Tangs, Tuna, Rainbow Runners and many species of  Trevally.

Bala Reef is said to be one of the best sites in the Andaman’s for bright-colored corals, the dive site on the western side of Corruption Rock is known for craggy undersea landscape with fantastic gullies, channels, ridges and canyons, Rutland Island is a good place for training open water divers also a ship-wreck site, Snake Island offers awesome rock faces and spectacular dive landscape, Havelock Island offers a range of largely unexplored dive sites rich in underwater marine life. There are various other dive sites in the islands including Mac Point, Aquarium, Barracuda City, Turtle Bay, Seduction Point, Lighthouse, Pilot Reef and Minerva ledge at Havelock and Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park with hundreds of colorful varieties of coral reef fishes and more than 50 types of corals in the park.

TRIBES OF ANDAMAN & NICOBAR

Islands, still following their unique customs and traditions and resisting the wave of modernity and civilization. These are: -

•      Great  Andamanese  of Strait Island,
•       Onges of Little Andaman,
•       Jarawas of South and Middle Andaman,
•       Sentinelese of Sentinel Islands, and
•       Shompens of Great Nicobar.

• Great Andamanese of Strait Island:

Having once the largest population amongst all the tribes of Andaman Islands, their numbers had dwindled from 10,000 in 1798 to 19 in 1969. The Administration has come forward to help these tribes in surviving and protecting and preserving their culture. These tribal’s have now been rehabilitated in a small island named Strait Island and are foragers. Though they have moved over to the modern food cooked with spices, they still go for hunting and gathering at times and their traditional food items 


consists of fish, dugong, turtle, turtle eggs, crabs, roots and tubers along with pork, Andaman water monitor lizard, octopus, molluscs taken out from shelled marine life such as turban shell, scorpion shell, sundial, helmet, trochus and screw shell and various types of crabs. Today, these people indulge in cultivating vegetables and poultry farming.

•   Onges of Little Andaman:

One of the most primitive tribes in India that belongs to the Negrito racial stock, they have been relegated to the reserved pockets at Dugong Creek and South Bay of Little Andaman Island and have been rapidly dwindling in numbers. The semi-nomadic tribes, fully dependent on nature for food, they are under the wing of Administration, which has provided them with pucca hut type houses, food, clothes, education and medicines. Their traditional food consists of turtle, fish, roots and jackfruits. 

• Jarawas of South and Middle Andaman

Administration stretched their hands to this tribe in 1974 and befriended them with gifts of bananas, coconuts and other fruits. They were hostile till 1998 but now they are coming out of their habitats to mix with the local people. Isolated from the civilized world, Jarawas appear to be healthy with smooth skin, deep curly hair, long and sturdy hands and legs and sturdy bones and are physically fit for hunting and fishing. This nomadic tribe is certainly not welfare-dependent and manages to subsist on hunting, fishing and gathering activities. Their traditional food consists of wild boar, turtles and their eggs, crabs, fruits and honey.

•   Sentinelese of Sentinel Islands:

Inhabitants of North Sentinel Island, they are the world's only Paleolithic people surviving today that have remained aloof from outside world and have no contacts with any other group or community. Said to be an offshoot of Onges and Jarawa tribes, the Sentinelese are very hostile and never leave their Island. Thus, most part of their culture remains shrouded in mystery.

•  Shompens of Great Nicobar:

Inhabiting the largest of Nicobar group of Islands, they belong to the Mongoloid race. They have two divisions - the smaller division of Mawa Shompens lives very close to the coastal region along the river valleys very and is shy. However, they are intimate with the Nicobarese. The major group of Shompens is hostile and live in Alexandra and Galathia river areas and also on the east coast of the area in the interiors. Their numbers have dwindled greatly due to various diseases and they are physically very weak.

ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLAND

The territory is 150 km (93 mi) north of Aceh in Indonesia and separated from Thailand and Burma by the Andaman Sea. It comprises two island groups, the Andaman Islands and the Nicobar Islands, separated by the 10° N parallel, with the Andamans to the north of this latitude, and the Nicobars to the south. The Andaman Sea lies to the east and the Bay of Bengal to the west.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a group of islands in the Bay of Bengal and a Union Territory of India.

The territory's capital is the Andamanese town of Port Blair. The total land area of the territory is approximately 6,496 km2 (2,508 sq mi). The capital of Nicobar Islands is Car Nicobar. Rajendra Chola I (1014 to 1042 CE), one of the Tamil Chola dynasty kings, occupied Andaman and Nicobar Islands to use it as a strategic naval base to launch a naval expedition against Sriwijaya Empire (a Hindu-Malay empire based on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia). The cholas called the 'Nicobar' island as 'Nakkavaram' which is inscribed on the Tanjore inscription of 1050 CE. Nakkavaram in Tamil means "naked man" or "land of the naked" which should have been evolved to the modern name "Nicobar". Marco Polo (12-13th Century CE) also referred this island as ''Necuverann''.The name of the island has always been 'Andaman' and might represent Handuman, the Malay form of Hanuman.

The islands provided a temporary maritime base for ships of the Marathas in the 17th century. The legendary admiral Kanhoji Angre established naval supremacy with a base in the islands and is credited with attaching those islands to India.There are 572 islands in the territory having an area of 8,249 km2 (3,185 sq mi). Of these, only 38 are permanently inhabited.

List of districts of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.Andaman & Nicobar Islands are divided into 3 districts. Each district is again sub-divided into Sub-Divisions and taluks.

• North and Middle Andaman district 
• Headquarters: Mayabunder
• Diglipur Sub-Division
• Diglipur taluk
• Mayabunder Sub-Division
• Mayabunder taluk
• Rangat taluk
• South Andaman district Headquarters: Port Blair
• Port Blair Sub-Division
• Port Blair taluk
• Ferrargunj taluk
• Little Andaman Sub-Division
• Little Andaman taluka (Hut Bay)
• NICOBAR District Headquarters: Car NICOBAR
• Car NICOBAR Sub-Division
• Car NICOBAR taluk
• Nancowrie Sub-Division
• Nancowrie taluk
• Kamorta taluk
• Teressa taluk
• Katchal taluk
• Great NICOBAR Sub-Division
• Great NICOBAR taluk (Campbell Bay)
• little NICOBAR taluk  

Andaman & NICOBAR Islands are blessed with a unique tropical rainforest canopy, made of a mixed flora with elements from Indian, Myanmarese, Malaysian and endemic floral strains. So far, about 2,200 varieties of plants have been recorded, out of which 200 are endemic and 1,300 do not occur in mainland India. The present forest coverage is claimed to be 86.2% of the total land area.

This atypical forest coverage is made up of twelve types, namely:-

• Giant evergreen forest
• Andamans tropical evergreen forest
• Southern hilltop tropical evergreen forest
• Cane brakes
• Wet bamboo brakes
• Andamans semi-evergreen forest
• Andamans moist deciduous forest
• Andamans secondary moist deciduous forest
• Littoral forest
• Mangrove forest
• Brackish water mixed forest
• Submontane hill valley swamp forest

About 50 varieties of forest mammals are found to occur in the Andaman and NICOBAR Islands. Some are endemic, including the Andaman Wild Boar. Rodents are the largest group with 26 species, followed by 14 species of bat.

ANI has also 270 species of birds (including endemics); the Nicobar island group has a higher endemicity than the Andamans and there are a total of 14 species endemic to ANI. The State Bird of the Andamans is the Andaman Wood pigeon.