Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Fresh reef fish simmered in a coconut-milk gravy with tamarind, chilli and curry leaves, the everyday fish curry of island homes.

Sea prawns cooked with onion, tomato and spices and finished with coconut milk.

Mud crabs from the mangrove creeks cooked in a thick, spicy masala of onion, tomato, chilli and coconut.

Thick slices of fresh tuna rubbed with a chilli, lime and garlic masala and shallow-fried until crisp at the edges.

Rings of fresh squid tossed with onion, chilli, curry leaves and pepper and fried quickly so they stay tender.

Sun-dried fish roasted and pounded with onion, chilli, garlic and tamarind into a fiery chutney eaten with rice.

Rice cooked in coconut milk with whole spices and curry leaves, served with fish and seafood curries.

The fibrous fruit of the screw pine (pandanus) cooked and pressed into a starchy paste, a traditional staple food of the Nicobarese.

Pork boiled with salt and then cooked with grated coconut, a simple home-style preparation in Nicobarese households.

Tapioca and yam boiled with salt and eaten with a fiery chutney of chilli, onion and coconut oil.

Fresh tender coconut water blended with its soft flesh and a little lime, a simple drink for hot island days.

A group dance of the Nicobarese people in which men and women move in long lines or circles with linked arms, singing together at community feasts.

A circle dance kept alive in the Andamans by families whose ancestors came from the Chhota Nagpur region, danced to the mandar and nagara at harvest and festivals.

Dances of the Great Andamanese and Onge peoples, in which a singer keeps time by striking a wooden sounding board with the foot while the dancers stamp and leap around.

The colonial prison of solitary cells where the British held freedom fighters, now a national memorial and museum.

A small island off Sri Vijaya Puram that was the British administrative headquarters, now with ruins overgrown by trees and roots.

A long, curved beach of white sand and clear blue water backed by tall forest, on Swaraj Dweep (Havelock Island).

A small, quiet island of farms and beaches south of Swaraj Dweep, known for its natural rock bridge and coral reefs.

An island in Middle Andaman reached through mangrove creeks, with limestone caves full of stalactites and small active mud volcanoes.

A protected marine park of small islands, coral reefs and mangroves near Wandoor in South Andaman.

A remote volcanic island in the Andaman Sea, home to the only active volcano in India.