Help on Meghalaya trip on April '12

I am planning a trip to Meghalaya in April 5-15, with my wife n kid (2yr) and another couple with 2 yr kid. finalized the following itinerary n wanted ur opinions on the same.

5th April: fly from mumbai to guwahati, visit local temples, overnight in Guwahati

6th: Travel to cherrapunji, visit umium lake, Barapani lake on way

7th: local cherra, mawmluh cave, falls, eco park, living root bridge, thangkarang park

8th Cherra-Mawlynnong; living root bridge, boulder balancing rock on way; overnight at Mawlynnong

9th: Back to shillong

10th: Day trip to Mawsynram; Jakrem hot springs, mawphlang sacred graves; back to shillong for night

11th: Local shillong sight seeing

12th: Shillong to Kaziranga

13-14th: Kaziranga

15th: BAck to Guwahati for return flight to Mumbai

A few queries:
1. Is it advisable to reduce 1 day in Kaziranga and instead go to Jowai from Mawlynnong and next day back to shillong

2. Any other thing in Meghalaya i am missing out. Need to go to Kaziranga as both kids are interested in wildlife .

Hi,

There are places in the Garo Hills...
Check out the Balpakram thread...

But due to road conditions and remoteness, they might end up taking more time than Kaziranga...

If time is a constraint you may try Pobitora instead of Kaziranga which is closer to Guwahati and is believed to have the highest concentration of Rhinos...

Although my opinion is purely based on third party information, I havn't been there... let's see if someone else can shed more light...

Your itinerary looks fine. But on the 7th , instead of doing sightseeing around Cherrapunjee I would recommend that you do the trek to the double decker root bridges. It's a very beautiful trek with lots to see on the way.

There' not much to see in Jowai so stick to your current itinerary.

Yep, absolutely nothing to see in Jowai. I used to live there 20 years ago.....dust, dirt, noise, pollution and crowd are what you are gonna find in Jowai.

Don't miss Mawlynnong. It a Asia's cleanest village. I suggest if possible leave some sight seeing in Guwahati(not adventure trip though).

There is nothing to see in Jowai but if you are interested you can see some coal mines and if you make sight seen in Guwahati you also can see world famous Kamakhya Temple

Contrary to popular belief that Jowai/ Jaintia Hills only has coal fields to offer, please check the following websites to get to know the many various attractions that Jowai/Jaintia Hills has to offer:

http://megtourism.gov.in/caves.html

http://megtourism.gov.in/waterfalls.html

http://megtourism.gov.in/dest-jaintia.html

http://megtourism.gov.in/jaintiafest.html

http://megtourism.gov.in/hotels.html

Hi Karikor,
You seem to be a fount of knowledge on Meghalaya, as well you should be, being a resident of Shillong! Can you please make a complete list of all of the Living Root Bridges for us? Every day I hear about new ones. I just read of the prospect of a Triple Root Bridge soon. So, if it is not too much trouble, a short list (or a long list) of these unique features of the Khasi Hills would be greatly appreciated.

Hi theyyamdancer,

As much as I would love to give you what you have just asked me, I still am not in a position to do so. The entire war region/ slopes of Meghalaya towards Bangladesh from West Khasi Hills to Jaintia Hills via East Khasi Hills, have hundreds of these Living Root Bridges. As we all know, necessity is the mother of invention. Such structures were a necessity for the people of this region. However, if my work takes me to such places, I would definitely love to document all of them. There is so much things to see here, but since there is no proper documention, hence they stay hidden.
One example are the Lawbah Fossils which are millions and millions of years old, to justify the theory that Meghalaya was under water some millions of years ago. However even such findings have not been documented properly till now. Another interesting place I would like to share is Larnai Village, which is towards Jowai. This village still practices pottery without the potter's wheel. This indicates that the people in this region still practice pottery which was way before the invention of the wheel. Other places famous for such type of craft is Greece.
As per some studies which have been carried out, the Khasi/Jaintia People have been in these parts of the world since 8000 B.C. but were mostly semi-nomadic. So till before the Aryans came and invaded, the Mon-Khmers were found up to the Plains of Punjab.

Hi karikor,
Interesting reply. Thanks.

Hi!

We are planning to visit Cherrapunjee for 3 nights in July 1st week. We have booked in advance in the Cherra Holiday Resort.

But we are a lil doubtful and want to know that is this at all a good time for visiting Cherrapujee?

Will appreciate a speedy reply since we have to book a flight ticket asap.

Thanks!