Arunachal Pradesh & Meghalaya in December 2009

Manzey

Hi,

Myself and my friend are travelling to Namdhapa National Park in Arunachal Pradesh and then to Meghalaya, mainly Cheerapunji and Shillong and if possible Tura.
We will be flying from Kolkatta to Diburgarh on 22nd Dec to take the Inner Line Permission at Diburgarh and reach Deban camp in NNP if possible on the same day evening. We will be staying in NNP for about 5 days and will be shifting our camps everynight to different places. There is no jeep ride or elephant ride in this park and the forest is explored by walk(will be walking approx 15 - 20km per day in forest to reach different sites). Namdhapa National Park is in a very remote place and the inaccessibility of greater part of the 2000 sqkm park has helped to keep the forests in their pristine and virgin state in its natural form. Infact, I was surprised that there is only one reference about Namdhapa in IndiaMike...which also tells that hardly any tourists come here. The forest lies in the international border between India and Myanmar(Burma).

NNP is the only place on earth where you could find four different types of cats like Tiger, Lepoard, clouded Lepoard and Snow Lepoard. Also, this is the only park in the world where its altitude changes from 200 mts to 4500 mts resulting in diverse vegetations. This places is paradise for people who are intrested in watching different kinds of birds and the beautiful forests possess great biodiversity of Flora and Fauna.The inaccessibility of greater part of the park has helped to keep the forests in their pristine and virgin state in its natural form.

After NNP, we will take a bus or train to Guwhati from Tinsukhia and then proceed to Shillong. After a days visit/sightseeing in Shillong will travel to Cheerapunji and stay there to see the living root bridge (requires trekking), numerous falls, caves and to see the cleanest village in asia. If time permits, will visit Tura hills. We will be returning back to Guwhati on 4th Jan morning and fly back to Bangalore the same day.

Likeminded people who are interested to explore the remotest part of India are welcome to join the journey. Please let me know for any questions. By the way, my tickets are already booked for both forward and return journey.

Cheers!

shahronakm

Good to hear that you are planning a trip to Namdapha. Have you organized your Namdapha tour through any local source (like guides, tents, cooking equipments etc.,)?

Ronak.

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Manzey

Nope....no tour agents. We are organising everything ourselves and carrying tents, sleeping bags and food.

Another one month to go.

Cheers!

ks_bluechip

The forest trek in Namdapha is an absolutely amazing experience! I did a 1-day trek in that forest way back in Feb-2006. Wish I had time to do the entire 6-7 days trek from Deban to Vijayanagar(?) on Burma border.

The Deban FRH is a nice place to stay. The Trek Guide, Ang, hired out by Deban-FRH to me, was an amazing guide and a bird expert and identified many bird species and showed me the detailed entry of that bird in the Bird Book that he was carrying with him along, with his traditional sword to guard against wildlife! Brief details of that trek here.

Ang in the dense Namdapha Forest with the Bird Book and Sword!
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/70/19...d10568.jpg?v=0
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sriram_world

Tell me one place..which you have not covered in India...:-)

Please mail the complete link to you arunachal photos..

Manzey

I am happy to see that this thread is coming to some life....

Thanks KS sir for the link. Although I have your site bookmarked and have read most of your travelouges, I somehow missed Namdhapa. Good to find someone in IM who has visited NNP. I could not find any refrence in IM about Namdhapa at all. Also very few sites have some information about NNP.

I have couple of questions for you KS sir....

1. Apart from Inner Line Permit, did you need to take any other permit ? Any special permission for Changlang district and any permission from forest department ?
2. We are planning to take ILP from Diburgarh on 22nd December. How much time did it take for you to get the ILP in Diburgarh ? Also, is there a possibility to take the permit in advance ?
3. Do we need to carry provision or food is available in Deban / Hornbill / Haldibari or other camps ?
4. Is there a direct bus from Diburgarh to Miao or do we need to go to Jorhat and catch another bus to Miao ?

Thanks in advance.

Cheers!

ks_bluechip

@Manzey:

1) Apart from ILP nothing else I think (in 2006)

2) Getting ILP yourself may take a whole day. I did that in 2006 at Mohanbari. But you can get it in advance thru an agent for a nominal fee. I know a good agent in Dibrugarh, who can get it for you in advance. He got my ILP in April-2009 for Daparijo, Alang, Pasighat, Tejo, Kibuthu etc. He might remember me. Contact him and see if he can help you for NNP:

Name: Mr. Bedanto Gogoi
Email: naturally_northeast@rediffmail .com
Cell: +91 9954222139

3) Do we need to carry provision or food is available in Deban / Hornbill / Haldibari or other camps? ... Deban has a full-fledged tourist FRH with many cottages & rooms and a Canteen. I trekked only to Hornbill & Haldibari and Guide Ang carried packed lunch of Puri-Aloo for both of us.

The Deban FRH officials are quite efficient and can organise all your trek needs for stay/tenting and food etc. Best to take their Guide who know the route well and can give you very good insight of the NNP and Birds & wildlife there. I think you may have to carry food/cooking etc from Deban, not sure. They can organise all that.

4) There may be a bus from Dibrugarh to Miao. Not sure. I went by a local bus from Tinsukia to Miao and then took a Jeep from Miao to Deban. Some details of that in my blog page, already given. Things may have changed since Feb-2006.

@Sriram: Many places in India still to see Dreaming of KuariPass, Tungnath, Chopta etc. maybe with snow around X-Mas 2009 (remember: we longed for that together last Xmas). Arunachal Pics in this Collection:
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Manzey

Thanks a lot for answering my questions.
Will hire one of the guides in Deban and will contact Mr. Gogoi rightaway as I don't want to waste one day in Diburgarh to get ILP.


Cheers!

shahronakm

I think apart from ILP a tourist permit is also required which is issued by office of the field director, Namdapha National Park.
Check out the link
http://namdapha.in/index.php?option=...id=20&Itemid=6

Ronak.

ks_bluechip

Ronak, You are very right! I remember now.

In Miao, I did get another permit from the Field Director's office. It was 5-10 mins walking distance from the Bus/Taxi stand. Thanks for correcting me.
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Manzey

@KS
Thanks KS for clarifying.
By chance, do you remember how much time it took to get the permit in Field Directors office in Miao ?
Also, I have contacted Mr.Gogoi and he did confirm that he can get the ILP for which I am sending my papers to him.

@Ronak ==> Even I had read that piece of information in the link mentioned by you, which is pretty clear about getting the additional permission, but was confused as everybody used to mention / write only about getting ILP but not about the other permit.

Thanks once again...

ks_bluechip

I looked up my diary for that 2006 trip. Getting permit took only 10 mins, as office was open when I reached. Some more details from that:

1) I took the 5:30am Ordinary Bus from Tinsukia to Miao arriving at 10:45am Fare Rs 55/-

2) Walked 10 mins from Bus Stop to Dy Director of Forests( a Dr Chandiramani was there on 31-01-2006) who issued me the Permit for 2 nights. I got the permit immediately, but spent some time chatting with him. Back at Bus-Taxi stand by 11:15AM. Waited there near the only Jeep for Deban, hoping some other pax may turn up to share jeep. No luck. So I took the whole jeep at Rs 900/- for trip.

3) We left Miao at Noon and reached Deban-FRH by 1:30PM. The ride was pretty rough but very scenic; and did require a 4WD jeep to cross sandy river beds. Paid Namdapah Forest entry fees totalling Rs 185/-.

4) The trek next day Trek started 7AM to Haldibari, Hornbill and back at Deban-FRH by 2PM. The Deban-FRH stay, food and Guide Chgs were only Rs 175/-, Rs 125 and Rs 150/- respectively.
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Manzey

Thanks a lot for looking at your diary and giving me more details.

Regards - Manzey

Cheers!