An Island within a Lake on an Island within a Lake on an Island!!

Vulcan Point in the Philippines is the world's largest island within a lake (Main Crater Lake) that is situated on an island (Volcano Island, aka Taal Island) located in a lake (Lake Taal) within an island (Luzon). Seems like straight out of Inception movie :)

Lake Manitou in Canada is the largest lake on an island in a lake. This is 100+ sq kms in areas. So not a trivial  one. This lake also has islands in it :)

http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/events/department-news/802/an-island-within-a-lake-on-an-island-within-a-lake-on-an-island/
http://www.elbruz.org/islands/Islands%20and%20Lakes.htm

Details on these in wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taal_Lake
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Manitou

Land that no country wants!! - Bir Tawil

When every country is fighting for land, here is on case where no one wants a particular land. Its Bir Tawil in Africa
This is the only "terra nullius" other than Antartica. This strange situation was created because of border issue between Egypt and Sudan. Both claim the bigger Hala'ib Triangle by referring to different boundaries drawn by British in 1899 and 1902. Choosing any of these two boundaries puts Hala'ib triangle and Bir Tawil in different countries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bir_Tawil
http://listverse.com/2011/01/24/top-10-unusual-borders/

State larger than country !!

Sakha Republic a federal subject of Russia is the largest sub national entity ( State in Indian terms) in the worlds..If it were a country, it would have been 8th largest country just smaller than India...
This is also probably the only sub national entity with 3 time zone...

More details at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakha_Republic

Sealand - An interesting micronation

The pillars supporting a country are executive,judiciary and legislature ( with probably added luggage of kings/queens etc ) . But i guess Sealand is the only "country" with iron towers supporting it :) 

This is because this "country" is on a British naval fort. A person called Major Paddy Roy Bates established Principality of Sealand on this fort :) Hilarious thing is that there is even a "government in exile" for Sealand..Checkout the wiki link..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand

Also worth checking out the BBC interview of "Prince of Sealand"

Kerala in Afghanistan !!

Yes..you read it right...Kerala in Afghanistan :) There is a village called Kerala in Afghanistan near Pakistan border. The massacre in this village was one of the reason for anti-soviet movement in Afganistan
You cant keep Kerala out of international politics :)

I got this crazy information from a blog : http://maddy06.blogspot.in/2009/03/malayalees-in-pakistan.html
But i had to verify this and i did that using google maps...Checkout the image below..

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala_massacre

Crazy enclaves

Enclaves are territory of one country inside another country. Most of such crazy entities are manifestations of Mr History's humour sense. The most complicated enclave system in the India-Bangladesh enclave system. This has the world's only counter-counter enclave. That is India has an enclave inside a Bangladesh enclave which is inside another Indian enclave :) This was a result of card or chess games between two Kings..And here we think that they dont have a sense of humour...But i dont think the residents of the enclaves share their enthusiasm in geography jokes and their life is a living hell with no facilities and having to negotiate international border for small things. The Dahagram-Angarkota is the only part-time enclave in the world , as the connecting Teen Bigha corridor is leased to  Bangladesh during day time 

More details at :

http://enclaves.webs.com/southasia.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Bangladesh_enclaves

This is one topic where i found a site having much more detail than wiki

Update : These enclaves are no more, to the delight of the residents and despair of map enthusiasts, Indian PM Narendra Modi signed land transfer treaty with Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina

Country without a capital !!

Republic of Nauru in Pacific has no official capital.Probably this Pleasant Island with its huge 21 sq km territory didnt find the point in having an official capital. Nauru is also the smallest republic in the world and the second least populated country after Vatican. More details on our ever reliable wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nauru

Buddhist country in europe

I will begin my blog with my favourite country ( apart from India :) ) - Russia. The sheer size and variety of Russia will make any geography enthusiast lick his lips. Without further adieu...


Republic of Kalmykia , a part of Russia is the only Buddhist region in Europe.This buddhist island in europe was created by people who migrated from steppes in Siberia.More details on Kalmykia is available on wiki :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalmykia

I have been eternally interested with geography...have spent countless hours pouring over atlases...reading about countries in Manorama year book and most of activities on net, inevitably lead to the wiki page on some obscure country or place..What better and cheaper way to travel than gliding through wiki pages...