Mysterious. Andaman & Nicobar islands One among the two island Union Territories of India, this group of about 600 islands lie closer to the south east Asia than Indian mainland in the Bay of Bengal. Mostly of volcanic origin, the islands are on a reef and is close to the Equator. Shrouded in mystery for centuries because of their inaccessibility, these are the paragon of exotic beauty. The dense forest cover are home to innumerable exotic flowers and birds edemic to the islands, some of which are on the verge of extinction.

The territory's population as per the most recent (2001) Census of India was 356,152. Added together, the total land area of the territory is approximately 8,249 km². Capital of the territory is Port Blair on the Andaman island.

Out of the 600 odd islands only few are inhabited. While a couple of the islands have indigenous tribes that are wary of outsiders, majority is inhabited by settlers who came from mailand India and south east asia. The indigenous tribes have both negito and mongoloid races.

Famous for the timber industry, Andamans have thick inpenetrable forests with mangroves and brackish lagoons. These tropical rain forests are a biosphere in itself. The sandy beaches with natural coves and lagoons have put the islands on the World Travel map. Of the two main groups of islands,only Andaman is open for free travel. It is difficult to get permission to visit the Nicobar islands which has 65% of its population the aboriginal tribes.