The Seven Sisters of North East India
Arunachal Pradesh - Assam - Manipur - Meghalaya - Mizoram - Nagaland - Tripura
“Sublime and awe-inspiring are the mountains; the gigantic rushing rivers rolling towards the sea, the trackless deserts, the infinite ocean, the starry heavens — all these are awe-inspiring, sublime, and beautiful indeed.”
The Yin to Delhi’s Yang, India’s North Eastern region still remains one of the more untouched places on the planet. An incredible diversity of proud ancient cultures is nestled in dense rolling forest tucked neatly between Bhutan, Burma, Bangladesh and China. The North East hangs onto mainland India by a 23km wide thread between Nepal and Bangladesh and you could be forgiven for forgetting you are even in India at all. The landscape, people and culture are more reminiscent of their Burmese neighbours than their mainland Indian counterparts.
The allure of the untouched
For so many of us, the most meaningful travel experience are in hard-to-get-to places devoid of western tourists. Spots where a genuine interaction with locals, not soured to the ignorance and arrogance of mass tourism, leads to life long memories of ‘something different’. Like Myanmar or Bhutan, places that are considered ‘untouched’ are having a boom in tourism as people flock to walk a path less traveled.
Entry
The North East is comprised of 7 separately governed ‘tribal’ states; Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. Some of these states, like Assam and Meghalaya have well developed transport and no travel restrictions. Others need permits for entry or only allow tourists in groups of 2 or more or with a company on a specific route. These rules change frequently, in recent years India has relaxed these requirements to promote tourism, so make sure you check on the offical tourism sites for entry exit requirements.
Note: Always check for official travel advice before travelling - At the time of writing this, Assam (Except Guwahati), Nagaland and Manipur all had reconsider alerts.
Guwahati is the prime point of entry to the North East with flights between Delhi, Imphal and Kolkata daily. Travel to the other states via air is almost always via a Guwahati stopover.
When to go
The word monsoon is thrown around too loosely these days. Because when it rains in the North East - it breaks world records…In fact the two highest annual rainfalls on the planet are in Mawsynram and its neighbouring Cherrapunji at roughly 11 meters or 38 feet of rain. The best time of year to visit the North East is ‘Summer’ Considered to be from March-May. Be warned, the closer you get to the monsoon (June - September) the more severe the weather will be. The winter across the states is varied depending on altitude but even Arunchal Pradesh is accessible up to mid-late December, but expect snow!
Meghalaya
100km south of Guwahati is Shillong, the hill station capital of Meghalaya. Although the drive up (via taxi) is on well maintained, sealed roads, expect the drive to take upwards of 3 hours and include a sensible stop at Jiva Veg Restaurant to quell your surely queasy stomach from the relentless assault of the winding hill climb. Shillong has a multitude of Schools and Colleges and is considered the education hub of the region making this hill station a young and vibrant town. As these students travel from villages and towns to attend school here, the ethnic diversity is comprised of ‘tribals’ (as they students proudly call themselves) from Nagaland, Mizoram and the Khasi Hills of Meghalaya. This creates a strange melting pot of proud traditional culture with young, educated and westernised christians.
Like any university town there are cafes everywhere (my picks are the beautifully wooden clad Cafe Shillong and the strange, musically themed homage to Bob Dylan - Dylans Cafe) and a multitude of restaurants and accomodation to suit any budget. From here you can travel out to the awe inspiring Natural Tree Root Bridges in Cherrapunji or stretch your legs on one of the many local treks. I wouldn’t book anything until you get there but head down to Police Bazar (centre of town) and drop into DD Laloo and Company, the local outdoor and adventure specialists. They have gear and run an awesome local company called Campfire trails and will happily arrange specialised trips for you. Remember the first rule of responsible travel is keep it local.
Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh is a little trickier to navigate than Assam or Meghalaya. You will need a PAP (Protected Area’s Permit) and possibly other permits depending on your itinerary. It also means (at the time of writing) that you will need to be travelling in party of 2 or more. Additionally, there are only certain pre-designated places you can travel whilst in the region. All a bit complicated. I have heard you can apply for your PAP or RAP from your home country consulate, but friends in India assure me the best way is to apply through the Deputy Resident Commissioners (DRC), in Guwahati or Kolkata and from here you may even be able to get a single tourist visa to Tawang district. Again, check here for the most up to date info.
The two routes I have dotted on the map left are Tezpur to Tawang (along the border of Bhutan) and Itanagar to Koloriang.
The Tawang route is hitting some serious Himalayan altitudes (Sela Pass is 4170m) and your end point is a picturesque village of rich Tibetan Culture and Buddhist tradition. If you have the extra time - organise a day trip up to Zemithang which is mere 7km from the McMahon line and 10km from Bhutan.
The Koloriang route can either start at Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh, or from the airport in North Lakhimpur. This route has a few more stop along the way to your final destination including the picturesque Ziro valley and hill station - Sangram (New Palin on Maps) to finish up at what seems the end of the earth - Koloriang. Almost untouched by tourism, Koloriang is a hill station village where you will be able to see the vibrant culture of the tribal Nyishi people.
note: the ‘highways’ and ‘roads’ through most of Arunachal Pradesh’s hills are more like occasional clearings in the forest - think mud, landslides and fog.
As for the other sisters - we are yet to meet, but when we do you’ll hear about it.
Have information that I don’t? I question about the north east? Comment below!