Tribal North East India Road Trip

After breakfast, we will line up for a photograph with our bikes. This is the traditional Viktorianz way of commencing the ride every morning. A quick brief for the day’s ride and wheels roll. We will ride out of Guwahati to Kaziranga along the scenic Asian Highway-1. This nearly 200 km ride will take us 4 hrs of saddle time. A quick lunch at the resort and we will be off to a Jeep Safari.

Kaziranga National Park, a world heritage site, is home to nearly two-thirds of the world’s Great One-horned Rhinoceros. The park has the highest density of tigers among the protected areas in the world and was declared a Tiger Reserve in 2006. Though sighting of tigers are difficult because of the tall grasses that provide excellent camouflage, their presence can be felt everywhere by way of pug marks, kills and territorial markings. You will also see large breeding populations of elephants, wild water buffalo and swamp deer.

After resting at the resort, in the evening you will be entertained by tribal dances and music by a cultural troupe. If you are keen, next morning you could do an optional elephant safari which starts at 6:30 AM - this will have to be booked before hand and there are no guarantees.

After tea and cookies, we are off to the park, where our elephant safari awaits us. We will proceed for an hour and half astride these gentle giants into the wild grass for up close sightings of the rhinos. The view of the park, the river at sunrise is ethereal. Also, this safari provides excellent opportunities for out-of-the world wild life photography, so keep your cameras, lenses and gear handy.

We get back for a piping hot breakfast. We then load up and line up for the short ride of 3 hours to Jorhat. A quick lunch at the Hotel and we set out for Majuli.

With all of its 452 sq km, Majuli Island is the world’s largest fresh water island. Amidst the mighty Brahmaputra River’s ochre sandbanks, Majuli is hauntingly scenic and beautiful with a tapestry of green rice fields and purple meadows of hyacinth blossoms. We would spend 2 nights and a full day on this unique River Island.

The island is home to nearly 100 species of birds and also people of neo-Vaishnavite philosophy. Viktorianz advises you to get here as soon as possible. Surveys indicate that at current levels of erosion the island will cease to exist within the next two decades.

After breakfast, today we ride into capital of Nagaland and key location in Second World War - Kohima. Nagaland is inhabited by 16 major tribes, each distinct in character from the other in terms of customs, language and dress.

Riders! on this day, be prepared to be enthralled by an explosion of culture, dance, music, art, cuisine and so much more. We go today to the Hornbill festival. You will learn during your time at the festival about this land of folklore passed down the generations through word of mouth.

We will spend most of each day at The Heritage Complex at Kisama which is a cluster of sixteen houses of each tribe called ""Morung or Youth Dormitory"". Each tribe is distinguished by the colourful and intricately designed costumes, jewellery and beads that they adorn.

The traditional ceremonial attire of each tribe is an awe inspiring sight to behold; the multi-coloured spears and dao (machetes) decorated with dyed goat’s hair, the headgear made of finely woven bamboo interlaced with orchid stems, adorned with boar's teeth and hornbill's feathers, elephant tusk armlets.

There is a bewildering variety of food; smoked or grilled to perfection, pork, chicken, beef, fish, leafy vegetable stews and sauces and currries. For the adventurous, there are insects and worms as also dog meat! All of it served with delicious sticky rice. The odd place also serves north Indian dishes, albeit a very limited choice. Every night, there is an ongoing Rock Festival at the nearby IG Stadium. Top bands from Nagaland and the rest of India perform.

This day we would visit the famous Kohima War Cemetry and visit a typical Naga village. By noon, we begin to ride 80 kms to Dimapur.

Dimapur was the ancient capital of the Kachchari Kingdom. 

Today, we will start early after breakfast. We have a long ride of 350 km on mostly good roads that we plan to complete in 9-10 hrs of saddle time.

It is now the Meghalaya’s turn to enchant you with its hills and valleys.

We will enter Shillong, the Scotland of the East before dark.

The city has a good night life with delightful eating places and rock bars and cafes. Explore and enjoy.

We ride early today to see the Living Root Bridge near Mawlynnong village. Renowned for being declared the cleanest village in Asia, Mawlynnong is located near the Bangladesh border, around three hours from Shillong.

The pristine, and unbelievably clean waters of Umngot River will fascinate you next. We ride for another 3 hours to Dawki for a boat ride on this amazingly clean river. We would then ride to famous Cherrapunji - our night halt for the day.

This is the day we would ride in morning to explore some caves around Cherrapunji. In the afternoon we’ll ride to the beautiful Umiam Lake, and then head back to Guwahati for our final night. This is the last night and end of road trip in North East India. We bid farewell to region, as you will fly our next morning.

After breakfast, you may plan to fly out anytime in the afternoon.