What is famous in Andaman?

The Ross Island was the erstwhile British headquarter for the most of the Andaman Islands from 1858 till it was rocked by an earthquake in 1941. In 1941, the Japanese converted the site into POW camp, and built war installations, remnants of which can still be seen. Now under the control of Indian Navy, the island with its jungle-clad colonial ruins and creepy World War II tunnels, is a popular tourist spot.

With an ecosystem of their own, the kayaking through the mangroves is an exciting way to view the Havelock island’s exotic wildlife. Acting as both a nursery as well as a breeding ground, the mangroves host a large number of life forms such as shrimps, algae, barnacles, oysters, sponges, mud lobsters and mangrove crabs to name a few.

An aerial view of the damaged coast of Indira Point, India's southern most point, 600 km (about 375 miles) south of Port Blair, in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago March 1, 2005.

The tsunami which swamped Asian coastlines just over two months ago not only killed thousands of people in India's Andaman and Nicobar islands, it also hurt a vital part of the country's defences. Picture taken on March 1, 2005.

REUTERS/Sucheta Das Die Landzunge Indira Point auf Car Nicobar, die den südlichsten Ort des indischen Staatsgebietes bildet, versank während des Tsunami 2004 im Meer. Der Leuchtturm am Indira Point steht wie ein Mahnmal im Wasser.

India lost strategic land to the 2004 tsunami forever as large stretches of its southernmost tip, the Indira Point, about 120 km from the Indonesian shores, remain underwater years after the mammoth natural disaster. Located at 6o 45? N latitude, Indira Point was formerly known as the Pygmalion Point.

There are two beautiful waterfalls on the Little Andaman island – the White Surf waterfall which is 6.5 km from Hut Bay Jetty and the Whisper Wave, which is 20 km from the same. One can take an elephant safari or trek through the verdant forests of the island to reach the pristine waterfalls.

The location of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands straddles one of the most critical naval and trade choke points in the world. The Andaman and Nicobar Command is India’s first and only joint tri-service command, with rotating three-star commanders-in-chief from the Army, Navy and Air Force reporting directly to the chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee.It also the focal point for Indian engagement with regional navies in Southeast Asia.

'Andaman' is derived from theMalay word for the Hindu deity Hanuman, and 'Nicobar' means ‘the land of NAKED PEOPLE.

The most common language here is Bengali followed by Hindi, Tamil, Telgu and Malayalam.

Residents of these islands mainly belong to the ‘Jarwa’ tribe, fondly known as the adivasi. They are less than 500 in number and do not interact with outsiders.

These islands inhabit endless marine cultures, but the most famous of them all are sea turtles. Dermocheleys Coriacea, the largest sea turtles in the world nest here. They are huge in size and thousands of them flock to the Andamans every year. Additionally, even the Olive Ridely turtles come to the Andamans and use it as their nesting ground.

Yes, and that’s great news because this is one of the very few places in the world where fish die of old age and get to live their entire life.

These crabs are also known as coconut crabs because they eat tender coconuts. They are large in size and hate water. In South Asia, the highest numbers of these crabs are found at the Andamans.

The scenery on our red coloured 20 rupee note depicts a natural scene on the Andaman and Nicobar islands.

The Japanese did occupy parts of North-Eastern India, but only for six months. Surprisingly, these islands were a part of Japanese occupation for three years.

Dugongs are a special sea mammal that are extremely shy to mate. There are only five breeding centres for these sea animals and Andaman is one of them. You can spot these in Little Andaman.

A lot of butterflies flock to Andaman and Nicobar from nearby tropical islands.

Katchal Islands enjoyed the distinction of being the first place to receive the sun rays this millennium sunrise.

Barren Island, situated 135 km away from Port Blair, is where you can see this live volcano.