Hornbill Festival in Nagaland

• Guwahati, the capital city of Assam situated on the south bank of river Brahmaputra. It is the gateway to the north-eastern region of India. Guwahati is famous for several temples including Kamakhya, all of them are dates back to the Vedic and Puranic times.Visit Navagarh temple on a hill originally built to study Hindu astronomy’s 9 major celestial bodies.
• Overnight at Hotel Gateway Grandeur or similar.

• Kaziranga National Park – is a World Heritage Site, where more than 75% of the world’s total population of the great Indian One horned Rhinoceros can be found. It lies on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra River and is one of the oldest parks of Assam. Besides rhinos, the Asiatic Water Buffalo numbering over 1200, elephants over 1000, tigers more than 81, Swamp deer, Barking deer and Hog deer can be seen. About 400 species of birds are found in the Park.
• Overnight at IORA or similar.

• Early morning go for an elephant safari followed by a jeep safari after breakfast. Post lunch go for another jeep safari. Overnight.

• To be a part of the festival on the inauguration day
• THE HORNBILL FESTIVAL of Nagaland, which is a yearly feature in the first week of December, is a cultural extravaganza worth a watch. One can see a mélange of Naga cultures on display in one place. A tourist with a keen interest in people, their customs, food habits, sports, dances and songs, will be more than satisfied. This festival is held at Naga Heritage Village, Kisema which is about 12Kms from Kohima and is permanently created for celebration of this festival. Here, typical Naga boys’ dormitories (morungs) of each tribe are constructed in their respective tribal architectural designs to simulate a real village scene. Naga boys dormitories (morungs) are places where impressionable boys learn to socialize and live in a community, where values of survival are taught against the backdrop of head hunting and constant fear of the enemy and animals. It is also a school where they learn the lessons of life such as bravery, loyalty, honesty and arts and crafts. Here they also learn the oral traditions of their people, their stories, myths and legends and pass it down through the generations. Hornbill Festival is the mother of all Naga Festivals, first celebrated in 2000. All Festivals of the 16 odd Naga tribes, normally celebrated over different seasons in a year, are condensed into seven-day festival, 1st to 7th December, every year. It is not, However, a reproduction of the ‘real thing’ but a window to the culture of the Nagas. The Festival highlights every aspect of Naga culture and tradition. Hornbill Festival offers a kaleidoscopic view of Naga culture expressed in the form of Folk dances, Arts, Architecture, Food, Traditional attires, fashion and of course, Music. Enjoy the, often superlatively expressed, hospitality and friendliness of the Nagas.

The beautiful Angami village of KHONOMA, 20kms northwest from Kohima, holds a special place in Naga history as the place where Angami warriors made their final stand against the British in 1879. Magnificent rice terracing surrounds the village, irrigated by a complex system of bamboo water pipes, and twenty different types of rice are grown here, each specifically suited to the elevation, soil and aspect of the terraces. A flight of steps, approached through a traditional carved gate, leads up to the highest point of the village from where excellent views take in the hills and the neighbouring villages.

The cathedral in Aradurah Spur is an important landmark of Kohima. The crucifix inside the cathedral carved out from the wood is the largest in India. The inscriptions were presented by the Japanese War veterans of World War II. Here, they say that, prayers are being offered everyday for those killed during the war at the battle of Kohima.