Andaman and Nicobar

From Wikitravel

Asia : South Asia : India : South : Andaman and Nicobar

Andaman and Nicobar are a group of islands in the Arabian Sea. Politically, they are a part of India, though in reality they are much closer to Burma and Thailand.than to the Indian mainland. They have been grouped with South India.

 Map of Andaman & Nicobar
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Map of Andaman & Nicobar
Table of contents

Regions

  • Andaman group of Islands
  • Nicobar group of Islands

Cities

Other destinations

Understand

The islands exist in India's popular consciousness mainly because they were used as a penal colony by the British rulers to imprison rebels and freedom fighters, in addition to hardened criminals. Most of the inhabitants of these islands are in fact migrants from the mainland, some of them being descended from the prisoners.

The original inhabitants are a bunch of aboriginal tribes who exist more or less out of the mainstream. There are some tribes who have had no contact whatsoever with the rest of the world. Some islands are out of bounds for outsiders.

Talk

In Andaman main spoken languages are Bengali and Tamil. English and Hindi are widely understood by the inhabitants.

Get in

By air or by ship from Calcutta, Madras or Visakhapatnam.

Get around

By rickshaw, taxi, bus and scheduled passenger boats. Some places hire out bikes.

See

  • Around Port Blair
    • Carboune's cove
    • Cellular Jail
    • Chidia Tapu
    • Mini Zoo

Do

Snorkelling in the transparent waters of Wandoor National Park.

Eat

Drink

Stay safe

Get out