Kohima Dzukou Valley Tour Package (5 Days)

Our driver picks you up from your hotel or home in Dimapur in the morning. Drive from Dimapur to Kohima (about 70 km, 1 hr 30 min). Check in at your hotel in Kohima. The road climbs out of the Dimapur plains past the Chumoukedima foothills and up through the forested Naga hills to Kohima, where the Inner Line Permit is checked. After checking in, walk to the main town to get a feel for this ridge-top capital of churches, markets and steep lanes, and end the day at a viewpoint as the lights come on across the valleys. Overnight stay in Kohima.

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   Kohima town

   The hill capital of Nagaland, spread along a ridge at about 1,450 m.

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   Kohima Cathedral

   The Mary Help of Christians Cathedral, a modern church on Aradura Hill with a large carved wooden crucifix.

After breakfast, drive about 25 km to the Viswema trailhead and climb about two and a half hours through bamboo to the rim of Dzukou Valley, walk the ridge above the rolling green valley, and come back down the same way (wear good shoes; the first hour is steep). Dzukou Valley lies at about 2,400 m on the border of Nagaland and Manipur: a wide bowl of low bamboo grass cut by winding streams, seen best from the rim. In June and July the rare pink Dzukou lily flowers here, and rhododendrons bloom in spring. Carry water, a packed lunch and a rain layer; the guide decides how far into the valley it is safe to go in the time available, and you are back in Kohima for the evening. Overnight stay in Kohima.

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   Dzukou Valley

   A high valley of rolling bamboo-grass hills and streams at about 2,400 m.

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   Viswema trail

   The shorter, steeper route up to the valley rim from the Kohima–Imphal road.

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   Dzukou lily

   A pink lily found only in this valley, flowering in June and July.

Today's travel: from Kohima to Kisama Heritage Village (about 13 km, 15 min) and from Kisama Heritage Village to Kohima (about 13 km, 15 min). Start at the Kohima War Cemetery on Garrison Hill, where the 1944 battle that turned back the Japanese advance into India was fought around the Deputy Commissioner's tennis court; the court's white lines are still marked among the graves. Visit the Nagaland State Museum for its galleries of Naga dress, jewellery and log drums, then drive about 12 km south to Kisama, the Naga Heritage Village, where each tribe has built a morung (traditional house) in its own style. The Hornbill Festival is held here every December. Overnight stay in Kohima.

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   Kohima War Cemetery

   The Commonwealth war cemetery on Garrison Hill, with the Kohima Epitaph: "When you go home, tell them of us and say..."

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   Nagaland State Museum

   Galleries of the dress, ornaments, weapons and log drums of the sixteen Naga tribes.

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   Kisama Heritage Village

   An open-air village of tribal morungs, venue of the Hornbill Festival.

Rest your legs with an easier day. Walk up to the viewpoint of Pulie Badze, a forested peak above Kohima, then visit Jakhama and Kigwema, Angami villages on the Imphal road with carved village gates, stone sitting circles and terraced fields running down the slopes. Overnight stay in Kohima.

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   Pulie Badze

   A forested peak and wildlife sanctuary with a view over Kohima.

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   Kigwema village

   An old Angami village with carved gates and stone platforms.

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   Jakhama

   A large Angami village on the road south of Kohima.

Drive down to Dimapur after breakfast. Before the drop, stop at the Kachari Ruins, a field of mushroom-shaped stone pillars left by the Kachari kings who ruled here before the Ahoms burned the city in the 16th century. Drive from Kohima to Dimapur (about 70 km, 1 hr 30 min), and drop at your hotel, home or the railway station in Dimapur. The tour ends here.

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   Kachari Ruins, Dimapur

   Carved sandstone pillars of the old Kachari capital, in the middle of Dimapur.