Exploring North-East India in February 2016

This was the second time we went wandering around North-East India during the winter of 2015—2016. It was so delightful!!! Words are not enough to describe this beautiful experience. The group felt very friendly and comfortable with each other since 3 out of 4 guests came to travel with me for the second time. We were having fun with elephants, rode bicycles, swam in waterfalls, fought leeches, tried home-made rice beer, listened to fascinating sounds of subtropical jungles and communicated to so many different people — unbelievably different in 3 individual worlds of Assam, Nagaland and Meghalaya. I want to thank all the travelers. It was great! Thank you!!!

Our team was international and they were like a family to me. Dasha, Yan and Piter have been on a trip to the Spiti valley with me before, and Carlos came to India for the first time.

We didn’t have much of an opportunity to catch up on our sleep after the flights, yet the adventures had already begun. We met these elephant calves in the Kaziranga National Park and Yan had to run away from them…to save the chocolate in his backpack.

We were lucky to see baby-rhinos as well.

The priest at a small temple gave us blessing from Ganesha — so our trip would go well.

Ganesha’s blessing worked in an unexpected way. Our jeep broke before we even started on the safari. They tried to fix it, but finally it was changed for another one…with much softer seats, which ended up being a big advantage as we realized later ))).

Bicycling around Majuli island. These old style Indian bikes are really good. People walking in the streets and other bikers smiled at us and we went slow enough to nod back and say a couple of words to each other.

We were lucky to catch a TV team shooting in one of the Satra-monasteries on Majuli. We were able to watch a dance performance and a bit from the play.

Our cycling team.

A girl named Krishna from the Missing tribe embarrassed Peter with her attention.

The sunset on Majuli island. There were many birds, including storks from Siberia. We watched them fly away one by one, enchanted, not being able to reach for the camera.

It was very hard to leave the place next morning. The guys felt rebellious and thought about staying in those huts for another week…at least.

But the next day brought a lot of fun on the tea plantations.

The river flowing along the border of Assam and Nagaland. It is the main source of water for the tea gardens next to it.

We stumbled across a Japanese tank in Kohima, the capital of Nagaland, in the evening. It has been here since April of 1944 when the city turned into a site for a battle between the British and the Japanese during the Second World War.

This is a traditional Naga style hut where we spent a night. The machete and somebody’s scalp were found there and Carlos was not afraid to try it on!

In general, Naga people are very open and friendly.

Everyone was invited to try for himself in various activities at the Sekreni festival. Carlos hit the target, although not the bull’s eye and was praised by the Angami brothers.

The evening turned into a merry celebration with homemade rice beer at the bonfire inside a Morung with local VIPs.

In the morning we gave a wake-up call to the whole village using a traditional Naga log-drum. That was our farewell to the hosts)))

After all those adventures in a remote area of Nagaland, Carlos joined a Catholic mass at the main cathedral in Kohima.

We got tired with all the parties and traveling for 12 hours in a jeep, so you can imagine how happy we were when reached the heavenly Meghalaya.

Enjoying the view from an edge of a canyon.

Exploring one of many caves here.

This is the end of the mountain area; the vast plains of Bangladesh start from there.

This is what was waiting for us down in the canyon.

Famous double-decker living root bridge in the land of Khasi people.

Rainbow waterfall had a little less water in it in February compared to December. The jungles got a warmer color.

Can you find Yan in the photo? I wish I could be the same at 77.

This is where I had my Happy Birthday morning bath)))

A farewell photo before we started on our long way back home…