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  WorldroomNational Tourism Guide INDIA 2008  |
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Travellers from home and abroad have barely scraped the treasures of India's holiday offerings..and no where better is this evident than in the increasing interest in the mystique of the " Seven Sisters"-now Eight-- with the partial opening up of Sikkim (which has been admitted into the North East Council), in India's remote North East region.
Get ready for a tumultuous odyssey of thrills and spills as you encounter a fascinating range of geographic settings, stunning topography combined with a dazzling range of wildlife, a continuously engaging history and traditions of its ethnic community lifestyles and a cornucopia of spiritual heritage. India's partition in 1947 may have played a pivotal role in isolating the region, but now its very much in the thick of things-From politics to tourism-- the North East is pretty much holding its own in attracting the attention of visitors to this many-splendoured land. The North East has all the makings of a fun-filled journey of a lifetime-Challenging…myth-ridden…and delightfully pristine. It offers you a romantic adventure in the best traditions of travel and discovery… It’s signature states - Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura and partly Sikkim… invite you to uncover the magic and mystique of nature at her splendiferous best. Raw natural intensity is a joyous affirmation of paradisal charms marked by ancient forestlands, high mountain grandeur, rare orchids and butterflies, roaring rivers and gurgling brooks, and exuberant waterfalls and placid lakes. On offer too are brightly painted monasteries, intricately woven tribal shawls and saris, indigenous sports and - most of exciting of all - visit opportunities to many ethnic village communities with their colourful festivals, cuisines and arts and crafts… It's a compelling message of enticement and mesmerizing explorations as you travel from one state to the next. Covering over 26,500 sq. km of near-virgin landscape its ecological development and the lifestyles of its people have been marked by its major waterways - primarily the Brahmaputra and the Barak rivers, its ancient mountains, vast tracts of impenetrable jungle and months of incessant rain. Its people are predominantly tribal. It comes as no surprise that, given its strategic geographic setting (on the overland route linking India to east and southeast Asia ) the region was for centuries the great crossroad of the movement of people, commerce and culture. Visitors to the region thus encounter a fantastic ethno-cultural frontier marked by a rich cornucopia of racial, religious and linguistic cross-currents. This complex bio-geographic frontier- a pivotal point of Indic, Sinic and Malayasian-Burmese strains, is an astonishing treasure house of faunal, floral and avian bio-diversity. North of the Bramhaputra River, along the eastern border of Assam, are the mystical landscapes of Arunachal Pradesh. This can be accessed from Assam's gateway towns of Tezpur and Diburugarh. With its lush tea gardens and oil fields Assam, renowned for its estates and oilfields is cradled by the Bramahaputra Valley, is accessed by Siliguri in North Bengal's Dooars region. Nagaland is accessed by Naogaon and Jorhat in Assam. To reach Manipur get on a plane to Dimapur in Nagaland. Plunge into the 'mist'ical charms of Meghalaya from Guwahati and Shillong its capital. From here one can move on to Mizoram past Silchar Agartala is an excellent base for explorations of Tripura. A riveting drive through the fabulous Teesta Gorge, accessed from Siliguri, takes you to the remote wonderland of Sikkim. To get valid permits to visit Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland get in touch with the state tourist offices in Delhi, Kolkota and Guwahti- though the local administration has the authority to also issue these. Since the region is lashed by the seasonal monsoons from June- September, its best to plan a holiday from October to March. In the dead of winter you may have problems crossing the Sela Pass to Tawang in Arunachal, so plan a visit around mid-September- November and March -April. There's plenty of accommodation available for all budgets in the major towns, but the pleasure of travel in the smaller townships and forest and mountain areas lies in keeping an open mind about home stays and less fancy hotels. |
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