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.

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.