About Andaman

Climate is tropical and humid. It is always warm, but with sea-breezes. Rainfall is irregular, but usually dry during the north-east, and very wet during the south-west, monsoons. The weather is generally pleasant, with Mean Min Temp 23°C and Mean Max Temp 30°C.

Best time to visit :- October to March.

The Andaman & Nicobar are a group of picturesque Islands, big and small, inhabited and uninhabited, a total of 572 islands, islets and rocks lying in the South Eastern Part of the Bay of Bengal.

Of the people that live in the Andaman Islands, a small minority indigenous Adivasis of the Andamans. The rest are mainly divided between Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Punjabi people from the mainland.

The Andamanese is a collective term to describe the peoples who are the aboriginal inhabitants of the Andaman Islands and Nicobar Islands, located in the Bay of Bengal. Till 1850, the Andamanese lived in complete isolation. It was after 1850 that they came in contact with the outside world.

Nicobarese were the aborigines of the Nicobar Islands; they lived in the Nicobar group of islands with Shompens.

• Great Andamanese :- who collectively represented at least 10 distinct sub-groups and languages.

• Jarawa :- They are distributed across western side of South Andaman and Middle Andaman Islands. Since 1998, they have been in increasing contact with the outside world. All contact, especially with tourists, remains extremely dangerous to the Jarawa due to the risk of disease.

• Onge :-They are one of the Andamanese adivasi indigenous peoples. They are sometimes classified as "Negritos". They were formerly distributed across Little Andaman Island and the nearby islets and the southern tip of South Andaman Island. This semi-nomadic tribe used to be fully dependent on hunting and gathering for food.

• Shompen :-The habitation of Shompens is the Great Nicobar which is the largest among the Nicobar group of Islands. Like the Nicobarese, they belong to the Mongoloid race.

• Sentinelese :- The Sentinelese are the inhabitants of North Sentinel Island.

• Jangil :-They were formerly distributed through the interior of Rutland Island, and were given the name Rutland Jarawa because it was supposed that they were related to the neighbouring Jarawa peoples.

Languages - Nicobarese, Telegu, Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi and Bengali.
Religion - Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and others.

Helplines :-

• Andaman & Nicobar Airport (Veer Savarkar International Airport)
  03192-233390/232983

• Police Control Room
  03192-232100

Do̢۪s :-

• Contact Tourist Information Centres for any assistance required.
• Inform the Police immediately on any criminal activity. Police Control Room
  03192-232100
• Consult life guards before entering the sea.
• Swim on safe areas only.
• Avail only the services of authorized scuba diving centres.
• Keep the beaches and the environment clean and dispose off the garbage and plastics at proper places/dustbins.
• Foreign nationals should obtain the required permit before entering /soon after landing on the islands.

Don̢۪ts :-

• Do not take pictures of the airport, government dockyard, defence establishments, naval wharf.
• Do not collect, destroy or remove any living or dead animal/plant.
• Do not collect dead coral or touch/break live coral.
• Do not take video or film without permit, wherever such permits are required.
• Do not take video, film or photographs inside Tribal Reserve areas or of the indigenous tribes.
• Do not take photographs of Jarawas. Don’t interact and give food items to Jarawas.
• Do not swim in unsafe waters during monsoon.
• Do not light fire in Protected Areas