Amazing facts about Andaman & Nicobar Island – The Andaman Adventure!

The name Andaman is acknowledged to be derived from Hanuman and Nicobar from South Indian term ‘Nakkavaram’ which means ‘Land of the Naked’. Being one of the seven union territories of India, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is home to beautiful beaches, biggest crabs and turtles, scrumptious food and many more. Andaman and Nicobar Islands has 572 Islands, out of which, only 38 are inhabited. The place is famous of cellular jail known as ‘KaalaPaani’ at the time of Britishers. They used to keep all freedom fighters in this remote island, punish in the most brutal ways and were not allowed to keep contact with the rest of the world.

1. Widely spoken language is neither Andamanese nor Nicobarese but Malay. Other popular language is Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil.
   
   
2. Residents of this island are mostly a member of ‘Jarwa’ tribe, also known as the Adivasi who don’t interact with outsiders. The Sentinelese are considered as the most isolated tribes.The Jarawas living in Baratang Islands are generally hostile. 
   
   
3. Andaman and Nicobar houses the Barren Island, located 138 kms northeast of Port Blair is the only active volcano in the entire South Asia. These volcanoes happened by the emission of natural gases and depressurized pore water from the organic matter that has decayed under the ground.
   
   
4. INR 20 depicts a scene from Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Some say it belong to North Bay Island while some to Mount Harriet, which is known to be the second highest peak in this archipelago.
   
   
5. Indira Point' (formerly known as the 'Pygamalion Point'), a village in Nicobar village is the southernmost tip of India. In 2004 Tsunami, a large part of the region remains underwater. There is a lighthouse located at Indira Point which provides illumination/direction to the sea vessels traveling to Malaysia and Malacca via India.
   
   
6. Havelock, Port Blair, Neil, Ross and Smith are a few of the many islands in the Andamans, named after British officials who ruled there.
   
   
7. Katchal Islands', from the Nicobar Islands was in the news on the Millennium eve as it is the first inhabited place on earth to caught the first rays of sunrise of the Millennium.
   
   
8. The first flag of Independent India was hoisted in Andaman Nicobar Islands on 30thDecember 1943; by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose who named them Shaheed and Swaraj.
   
   
9. The Andamans are home to the world’s largest sea turtles. The three rare species of turtles namely Green Turtle, Hawksbill and the Leatherback (DermocheleysCoriacea) – the world’s sea largest turtle can be seen here. The biggest living arthropod Birgus Latro, also known as Coconut crabs which eats only coconut and hate water is also found over here.
   
   
10. Commercial fishing is banned at these islands because this is one of the rare places in the earth where fish live their full life and die only when they reach old age.
    
    
11. Dugongor, also called as angel of the sea’ is the state animal of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. These are large, plump, gentle sea cow living on the sea grass.
    
    
12. The Pandunus or Nicobar breadfruit is a specialty of the Nicobar Islands. It is a wedge shaped fruit have a fibrous body with embedded edible seeds and fleshy &sweet in taste. 
    
    
13. Dugong is a very and is found lying peacefully on the sea grass. and absolutely vegetarian creature, who are also called as ‘angel of the sea’. 
    
    
14. South Asia’s highest number of crabs are found at the Andamans.
    
    
15. Andaman & Nicobar Islands were occupied by Japan for 3 years during WW II