From the Land of Dawn-lit Mountains

In Indian geography, a very important question in school days used to be "Which Indian state experiences the first sun rays of the day?" I'm sure that you all know the answer and it's this state about which I'm going to write in this post. Well, I haven't yet traveled through the entire state though.

Before I move into the tour details and experiences, a few lines on the state is perhaps important. Arunachal Pradesh is the north-eastern most state of India. It borders the states

Destinations in the trip

of Assam and Nagaland to the south and shares international borders with Bhutan in the west, Myanmar in the east and China in the north. Arunachal Pradesh is connected through air, land and railways. The best time for visiting this state is March to May. However, even in this duration you may experience rainfall, snowfall and road blockages. With that in mind, let's move over to my journey through some well-known tourist spots in the western part of Arunachal Pradesh. We start from Kolkata and the spots to be covered in this trip are Bomdila, Tawang and Dirang in Arunachal Pradesh and Kaziranga National Sanctuary and Guwahati in Assam before we return to Kolkata.

Let's go back to April 7, 2018 and start from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata for our trip. We shall fly to Tezpur, Assam and from there continue our journey by road. Flight is at 5:50 am and it has an intermediate stop at Guwahati, Assam. This is a propeller passenger flight because Tezpur is actually a military airport and does not have a large runway, This flight, run by Alliance Air (India), is not available on all days and tour planning needs to be done accordingly. However, if this flight is not available on the day as per your plan, you can fly to Guwahati and take the road from there.
We reach Tezpur Airport at around 9 am and our driver is there with his Xylo which is going to be

Colourful orchids at Tippi Orchid
Research Centre

our vehicle for the entire tour. Our first destination is Bomdila, around 150 km from Tezpur. The journey begins from the plain land by the Kameng River in Assam and then through the winding mountain roads as we enter Arunachal Pradesh at Bhalukpong (around 50 km from Tezpur airport). Another 15 km and we reach Tippi Orchid Research Centre. It has got a number of

Honey bee hives on mountain sides
at Singchuk

various orchids and is a must visit on the way to Bomdila. An hour stay at the orchid house and we are back on the roads with the Tenga River flowing deep down in the gorge. The roads over here are narrow with sharp bends and may lead to nausea for passengers from the plains. Keeping some medicines handy is advised. There is also a scarcity of roadside stalls throughout the road and so keeping some dry food with you is good.The road crosses the river at the Singchuk block where there are some hotels for having lunch. There's a Nag Temple over there which you may visit. The temple has

Doe-Gu-Khil guest house at Bomdila

mythological stories linked with it and is said to act as a savior to local residents and road users. At Singchuk we also come across large honey bee hives on the mountain sides. We have never seen such large bee hives before. Another 35 km and we are finally at Bomdila just before evening. We have our suit rooms booked at Doe-Gu-Khil Guest House. The location is beautiful with mountains all around. A casual stroll outside the guest house and taking in the pure form of nature all around makes you feel rejuvenated after the tiring ride through the mountains.  It becomes dark over here all of a sudden and at quite an early time due to its eastwards location in the country. It has been a very hectic day for us and after a light meal we are all down fast asleep.

View from the balcony of Doe-Gu-Khil guest house, Bomdila

April 8, 2018 and after a refreshing sleep, we are on the streets for some morning walk and photography; narrow winding mountain road with pine trees on both sides. It seems as if you are in a

Shady winding roads of Bomdila

separate world, free from pollution and devoid of the daily hustle and bustle of city life. You feel relaxed, breathing in the fresh air and enjoying the silence all around. A few steps up the mountains and we are standing in front of the Bomdila Monastery. The monastery was built in 1965 and has a

A monk at work

picturesque view. The area is on the top of a hill and is surrounded on all sides by lush greenery. Small flower plants and cactus throughout the area further add to the beauty. You are welcomed in the monastery area by a number of monks from all ages. They are found busy all throughout doing various chores for their daily purposes. It is worth of a sight how the monks, notwithstanding their ages, are involved in various work. A visit to the prayer hall inside and we are back to our guest house for breakfast. We need to get ready for our next destination Tawang.

Bomdila Monastery

The distance from Bomdila to Tawang is around 180 km and it goes through the infamous Sela Pass.  The journey

Roadside flowers on the way to Sela Pass

from Bomdila to Sela Pass is mostly through fogs and clouds and we experienced rainfall as well. The nearby mountains would become visible occasionally when the clouds cleared, though for very short duration. Sela pass, at a height of 13,700 ft above sea level, connects Tawang to the rest of India. The pass is named after a tribal woman Sela who had helped the Indian army with food and water during the Indo-

Sela Pass Gate with the surroundings wrapped in snow

China war in 1962 and had died later during the war. There's a large lake (Sela lake) located on the north side of the pass feeding the Nuranang River, a tributary of the Tawang River. Sela pass remained cloudy for us and we could see fresh snow all around. It is chilling cold there with immense gusts of wind. None the less, we enjoyed ourselves lying on the snow at the road side and playing with snow balls. There are one or two shanties there where you can make yourself warm and get tea and snacks. Due to its height and sub-zero temperature, many tourists suffer from breathlessness at Sela Pass. Tourists also get excited by the sight of snow all around leading to breathing problems. So, a statutory warning for all tourists, take care of your health and walk slowly and patiently without getting over-excited at such a high altitude.

Sela Lake by the Sela Pass

After a brief halt of about 30 minutes, we are back in our vehicle as we start moving down from

Snow covered mountains

the pass. The road is then under maintenance and we are having a bumpy ride. And just as we are about to complain about the road condition, it started raining accompanied with snowfall. Everything around is just white with the pine and cedar trees standing tall amidst all adversities. Lunch at the town of Jung and we move further down to reach the mighty Nuranang Falls. It

Nuranang Falls

originates from Sela lake and falls into the Tawang river below. The falls is of around 100 m high and is named after a tribal girl Nura who had helped the Indian army during the Indo-China war of 1962 and later got caught by the Chinese troops. It is also known as the Jung Falls as it lies some 2 km away from the town of Jung. Nuranang falls over, and it's a non-stop drive of around 30 km to Tawang. We are taken by surprise when we find a deer coming down the mountain side and crossing the road just in front of our car. It is worth of a sight and our driver mentioned, even he had not experienced such a thing in his 20 years of driving in this route. We finally reach Tawang at dusk. Tawang is a Buddhist town at a height of around 10,000 feet. We have our rooms reserved at Tenzing Home-stay. Tenzing is a bit on the outskirts of Tawang and that makes the surroundings peaceful and worth enjoying. It being a home stay, is managed by the landlady. Taking care of the tourists, cooking for them are all taken care of by her, ably helped by her husband, who we later come to know to be a professor in Tawang monastery.

April 9, 2018 and we wake up to yet another cloudy morning which is quite natural at this 

Clouds and mountains creating
magic at Tawang

part of India. A gradual stroll outside our room makes us realize that there are a number of plantations inside the area of the guesthouse ranging from mustard, cherry, kiwi, cabbages and other vegetables. As we move outside, we

Cherry blossoms

find that each and every house in that area has such types of plantations in their own land. We come to know that over here most of the people cultivate their own vegetables and use them for their daily uses. Another fact that caught our notice is that all the houses have colourful flower or cactus plants on their balconies. Some houses also have rhododendron plantations in their land adding to the beauty. The air over here is so pure and you hardly find any dust on the roads. No wonder, Tawang has been aptly named as the cleanest district in North-east India.

Lord Buddha in Tawang monastery

After having our breakfast, we are out for the local sight scenes. The first stop is the Tawang Monastery, the largest monastery in India and the second-largest in the world. It was built in 1680-1681 and is thus very old. It is three storeys high and consists of 65 residential buildings in its campus. The main temple of the monastery houses an 18 feet high idol of Lord Buddha in a lotus position. The

Giant Buddha Statue

monastery also has a library in the second floor and is worth visiting. The monastery is surrounded by snow-capped mountains which is visible from the lawn if the sky is clear. However, we are unlucky as the sky remained covered in clouds and nothing much could be visible. Our next place of visit is the Gyangong Ani Gompa. It was established in 1860 and is maintained completely by Buddhist nuns. Our last spot for the first half of the day is the Giant Buddha statue near the Tawang circuit house. This statue stands out in the open and is surrounded by mountains.
Post lunch, we go to visit the Tawang war memorial in memory of the brave soldiers who had laid down their lives in the 1962 Indo-China war. There's a light and sound show every evening but with limited number of seats. It is a must watch for the tourists visiting Tawang for knowing the history of the town. The show starts as the daylight fades and continues for around 1-1.5 hour honouring the soldiers and their aides. We return to our guest house after the show and spend time chatting with the landlord and landlady. Myself being a foodie, I ask the landlady if some authentic Arunachal Pradesh  dish can be served. I remember she at once mentioned that it shall be difficult for us to eat. However, due to my persistent  requests she finally accepted in preparing a dish for our entire group. We are super excited at the thought of what is

Dung Po and Chura Sabzi

coming on and at the dinner table we find two bowls kept covered. The first one uncovered, it's sort of brown coloured rice commonly known as Dung Po. It is cooked using brass utensils (for adding flavour) and the rice is wrapped in leaves before serving. Uncovering the second bowl resulted in a quite strong pungent smell coming out all of a sudden. The dish looked like some plant leaves floating on milk. It is commonly known as Chura Sabzi. This is a traditional curry made with fermented cheese. Interestingly, the cheese is made of yak’s milk which resulted in the strong pungent smell at the initial stage. Yak's cheese (commonly known as Churpi) is very thick and heavy and the curry tasted good with Dung Po. 


April 10, 2018 and today's trip is to Bum La. This pass is at the Indo-China border at a height of 15,200 feet above sea level. It is referred to as the pass through which Dalai Lama

Panga Teng Tso

had entered India while escaping from Tibet during the 1959 Tibetan uprising. Bum La is at a distance of 37 km from Tawang and after a 15 km drive from Tawang, we are welcomed my fresh snow on both sides of the road. There is a lake on the way named Panga Teng Tso (commonly known as P T Tso), surrounded with snow covered mountains all around.

Myself with my parents at Bum La

Another 7 km from P T Tso through snow and fog and we reach a Y-junction. The right turn takes us to Bum La through 9 km picturesque road amidst snow covered mountains. Vehicle is allowed till a particular point and from there we need to walk to the border. Tourists, in specified numbers, are taken to the border accompanied with military personnel. We are informed that the Chinese troops are also keeping a watch on us and so excessive gathering for a prolonged time is not allowed. The McMohan Line passes through Bum La and separates India and China. The other thing that caught my attention is that there is no definite line of partition at Bum La, rather the line is demarcated by certain heaps of stones kept at some distance from each other. Bum La mostly remains under snow

The road back from Bum La

throughout the year and the road may get blocked at any instant due to excessive snowfall. We come to know that the road to Bum La remained closed till March-end due to snowfall. It's time to bid adieu to Bum La and as we are returning, it starts to snow. Our next destination is Sangestar Tso which  is on the other side of the Y-junction. The Sangestar Tso was formed due to an earthquake in 1950. It is more commonly known as Madhuri Lake based on Indian

Sangestar Tso

film actress Madhuri Dixit's dance here from the film Koyla. The lake nestles between mountains and has clear water with, what looks like, hundreds of bamboo poles shooting straight up from the water throughout the lake. These are ramrod straight trees, without any branch or leaf growing on them, standing like guards in vigil. When we reached Madhuri Lake, it has already started raining and the clouds have come so low that you could not see much around. It starts raining so hard that we have to run for shelter at a canteen over there. The canteen is warm and comfortable and food and hot drinks are available there. We start for the way back as the rain reduces and we are once again welcomed by high snowfall as we return. We are informed that the entry points to both Bum La and Madhuri Lake have been closed by the military due to high snowfall and reduced visibility. We thank the almighty for being just in time in visiting both the places as we return to Tawang through almost zero visibility and snow storm.

April 11, 2018 and it's time to bid goodbye to Tawang. We move down to Dirang covering

Chakzam Bridge on the right

around 145 km by road. We first halt at Chakzam Bridge, a 15th century suspension bridge. The bridge is just held by two iron chains from both sides and is freely suspended over the mighty river flowing below through boulders. As you walk over the bridge, you can feel it swinging and therein lies the adventure. The road traces through Sela Pass and this time we get snowfall over there also. There's a bit of sun out there and we enjoy having some ice balls with sugar syrup. We hand roll the fresh snow 

My parents in front of a rhododendron tree at Lubrang

from the road side to form the ice balls and enjoy them amidst the chill around. As we move down from Sela Pass, we are again welcomed by loads of clouds and we once again continue to drive at a very slow speed through zero visibility. Thanks to our experienced driver that I'm able to write this blog now! Before we reach Dirang, we are taken to Lubrang village where we find trees full of rhododendron flowers of various colours. Lubrang to Dirang took another 45 minutes and we are at our hotel before evening. We have our rooms reserved at Gonpalok Homestay which is on the banks of the Kameng river.

Snowfall at Shela Pass

April 12, 2018 and the thought of the trip nearing its end has started haunting me. I'm out for

Kameng river flowing through Dirang

a morning walk enjoying the beauty of nature and catching as much as I can through my lenses. The lane in front of our hotel goes through various orchards like those of kiwis, apricots and oranges and the light sunlight through the maple leaves feels warm and comfy after the last few days of cloudy and chilly weather. Breakfast at the guest house and we are ready for the Thupsung Dhargye Ling monastery overlooking the Dirang valley. The monastery was built in April 2017 and inaugurated by the Dalai Lama. It is a temple and learning institute of Tibetan Buddhism. The monastery was hosting a Buddhist conference when we paid a visit there and the lawn was full of Buddhist monks and other dignitaries. 

Thupsung Dhargye Ling Monastery at Dirang

Our next stop is the Monpa village at Thembang. Thembang is at a distance of around 11 km from

Colourful wild flowers on the
way to Thembang

Dirang. It is atop a mountain and the narrow road beautifully winds through the shady forests of pine and cedar. With colourful wild flowers on both sides of the road, the journey indeed feels like heaven. Thembang is an ancient village, said to be established before the First Century A.D. It is considered as the most ancient

Northern gate of Thembang

village in the region. The village is within a fortified area of 3.2 acres and is the house to around 40 Monpa households. The Monpas are the native to this region and their population in Thembang is around 250. Thembang is presently a UNESCO World Heritage Centre. The fort like structure has two gates, one on the Northern side and the other on the Southern end and are made of composite stone masonry and wooden structure. The stairs, the fort walls and even the houses inside are made of the same following Monpa architecture. The Monpa women indulge themselves in stitching carpets and woolens while the men carry them to the nearby markets in the towns for selling. They lead a very simple yet peaceful life in the lap of nature. We spend some time interacting with the Monpas and enjoying their simplicity before we return to our guest house.

A Monpa woman and her cute child

April 13, 2018 and it's time to bid adieu to Arunachal Pradesh, but the tour is not yet over. We go down to the plain lands of Assam. Our next destination is the Kaziranga National Park at a distance of 133 km from Dirang. At this time of the year you shall find many vendors selling watermelons by the roads. The watermelons are no doubt juicy and very sweet, a must have if you are fond of them. The sanctuary is a World Heritage Site, famous for its one-horned rhinoceroses. We have our rooms reserved at Emerald Resort at Kaziranga. The resort is alright but food is very costly. It is a bit on the outskirts of Kaziranga and there is no proper food 

4 Asian Open Bill Storks, 1 Little Black Cormorant and
1 Pied Kingfisher enjoying their afternoon in Kaziranga

shop outside. In addition, you need to pay extra for reaching the main gate of Kaziranga for a safari. It's my personal suggestion to reserve your rooms at Aranya Tourist Lodge (maintained by the Tourism Department of Assam) as it is just opposite the main entrance of Kaziranga National Park. There are two types of safaris in Kaziranga, viz., Jeep and Elephant. I shall suggest you to do both the safaris on the same day, one in the morning and the other at afternoon.  There is a daily entrance charge to Kaziranga which can be optimized if the safaris are done on the same day. However, due to time constraint from our side, we have to do the jeep safari at afternoon and the elephant safari the next morning.
We begin our jeep safari and are welcomed by various types of birds and deer. Some yards 

With the Wild Elephants

more inside the sanctuary and there's a herd of wild elephants that has blocked the path and won't allow anybody to pass. All the jeeps are standstill and after about 15-20 minutes of blocking the path, they are kind enough to allow us pass. It is worth watching how the baby elephants are being protected by their mothers and the entire herd being protected by a tusker. There's a watch tower from where we could see the rhinoceroses at a distant. Standing over there and looking at the rhinoceroses at a distant, we are indeed missing watching them from close. But who knew what's in store for future! Aboard the jeep and we enter further into the

The Tusker, head of the herd of wild elephants

forest. There's nothing much in store for us as we reach the end of the safari point and are gearing up for returning. While returning, we stop at various places taking photographs of the beautiful sunset or of the fight between two deer and so on. At one particular place, the driver of our jeep stopped. There a lake at a bit of distance from the safari road which is surrounded by high grasses. The driver stops there sensing that at afternoon usually animals come to the lake for drinking and that will give us subject for sighting as well as photography. We wait for sometime with no luck. All of a sudden, there is a movement across the grasses and out comes a rhinoceros running straight at our jeep. And then, it is followed by another one. The 

Two Hog Deer having a headfight

driver gears up the jeep and drives it at full speed as we are being chased by two rhinos at their full speeds. Please readers, don't go by their heavy body sizes; they can run real fast and a slight touch at that speed can cause mayhem. We literally think that's the end of our lives. However, the rhinos have mercy on us and allowed us to flee from their territories alive, an experience that shall remain etched in my memory for long. Back to our hotel after the safari, we take rest and get ready for the elephant safari next morning.

One of the rhinos which gave us a run for our lives

Elephant safari

April 14, 2018 and this is the last day of our trip. We are ready for the elephant safari where 4 tourists are allowed to sit on each elephant. The elephants do not follow any fixed trail and they take much into the interior of forest. From the top, we are able to see numbers of deer on the grasslands and many birds including vulture, hornbills and kites perched on trees. There are rhinos wandering through the forests and most of them followed by cattle egrets. We are taken close to a lake where we find many rhinos and bisons cooling themselves. Another thing worth eye-catching when you do an elephant safari is watching how the elephants feed on the grasses with their trunks. After they uproot a bunch of grasses, they shake them hard hitting the bunch on their legs to remove the mud from the grass roots. Once that is done, they roll the grasses with their trunks to remove the dry grasses and once that is done, they put the green juicy grasses inside their mouth. Indeed there's so much to learn from nature!

A huge Rhino and a small Cattle Egret having quality time together

Both the safaris over and we head towards Guwahati. The road from Kaziranga to Guwahati is mostly through a wide highway and driving on it is fun. After reaching Guwahati, we visit Kamakhya Temple at afternoon. Kamakhya temple is said to be one of the Shaktipiths. A darshan of Goddess Kamakhya and we return to the main city of Guwahati and check in Hotel Mayur. Our trip has come almost to an end.

Kamakhya Temple

April 15, 2018 and we are going to be home. A bit of shopping in the morning and we are at the airport at afternoon to catch our flight back to Kolkata. Another beautiful trip comes to an end and counting starts for the next one.





Some important information pertaining to the trip:
(I)  The tour planning was done by ourselves.
(II) The reservation of rooms and vehicle at various spots were through Eastern Frontier Tours and Travels. It is approved by Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh. They have their office at Salt Lake Sector 1, Kolkata.
(III) We were total 6 persons in this trip. Total expense was INR 86,000 excluding food costs and Bum La pass cost. The hotel charge at Guwahati was also excluded.
(IV) The vehicle that we had with us was Xylo. We boarded it from Tezpur airport and we left it after reaching hotel at Guwahati.
(V) Weather at Arunachal Pradesh mostly remains cloudy accompanied with rain. Proper protection needs to be taken therefore.


For the Kaziranga safari, some more points except the ones already mentioned:
(I) Please keep in mind that we, humans, are intruders there. It is actually home for the animals.
(II) Try to wear dull coloured clothes while in safari and not bright coloured ones.
(III) If you are using camera, please do not use flash and make sure that the shutter sound is off.
(IV) Let us not disturb the animals for our own entertainment.