Why To Visit Nagaland During Hornbill Festival.

Nagaland, the land of the hospitable and warm Nagas, A place of ancient beauty, dazzling hills and the valleys lies on the edge of India - Myanmar border.

To celebrate the Statehood Day on 1st of December, the State Government of Nagaland started promoting the Nagaland Hornbill Festival, named after the Hornbill bird and tagged as Nagaland Hornbill Festival-Festival of Festivals. Hornbill Festival gives a glimpse of Naga life to cultural sensibilities.
The annual Hornbill Festival will be held on the 1st- 7th December every year at the Naga Heritage Village,Kisama. For the year 2013, it was held from 1st -10th December to celebrate the 50 years of State formation.
What to expect during the Hornbill festival

1. Dzukou Valley is known as one of the most charming Valleys of Nagaland.

The View of the Hills from our Home Stay at Jakhama

Go for the  Dzukou valley  trek if you have enough time which is 15kms from Jakhama Village.
2.Going Around The Jakhama Village on the Kohima - Imphal highway close to the Hornbill Festival venue.
According to the people of Jakhama,thousands of Japanese soldiers, supported by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose camped in and around Jakhama before they captured Kohima from the Allied Forces during the second world war.

Buffalo Skulls in front of a house at Jakhama Village

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A Baptist Church at Jakhama Village

3.Cultural Performances At Heritage Village,Kisama
The various Naga tribes who perform during the Hornbill Festival:
Angami,Ao,Chakhesang,Chang,Garo,Khiamnuingan,Konyak,Kuki,Kachari,Lotha,
Phom,Pochury,Rengma,Sumi,Sangtam,Yimchungru and Zeliang 
These tribes show case their rich cultural and vibrant heritage with their performances

 

4.Greased Bamboo Pole Climbling
This traditional sport common among the Naga Tribes have to climb 10ft tall bamboo pole greased with pork fat.Participants can splash/rub mud on their body to create friction to make the climbing easier.But trust me, it was still very tough for the participants to climb.

The Participants also try to put the mud on the Greased pole to make it less slippery.

5.Traditional Stone Pulling Ceremony at Viswema.
16000+ People Pulling the huge stone as part of the Traditional Naga Stone pulling ceremony.The terrian of these valleys makes this event more tough.

6.Naga Chilli Eating Competition-Because its the worlds hottest chilli
Worlds Hottest Chilli Eating Competition. The winner of this competition ate 18 1/2 Chillies.All the participants are provided with water,glucose and there is a doctor to attend in case of any emergency.

 

7.Traditional Naga Wrestling
Naga Wrestling is an indigenous form of wrestling.The bout starts with the contestants holding each other's waist girdles.Both the wrestlers try to throw off each other and a wrestler is declared winner if he throws off his opponent and in the process gets the trunk of the opponent to touch the ground.

8. A Visit To The First Green Village In India-Khonoma Village
We hired a taxi to Khonoma from Kohima taxi stand who normally charge around Rs 800-1000/-
Khonoma ‘Green Village’ is a Rs. 3 crore project .We started our tour around the village at the village junction near the church and climbed the hill and passed through the village gate.The view from the peak and those magnificent terrace paddy fields through the lower valley between the mountains is just beautiful.

Naga People are known for their hospitality.The man above at Khonoma welcomed us into his house and offered the traditional Naga Rice Beer.
9.Kohima War Cemetery
Kohima War Cemetery is a memorial in honour of those officers and soldiers killed during the World War II.
“When you go home, tell them of us, and say: ‘For your tomorrow, we gave our today.’

10.Because You Get The Best Naga Food

During the Stone pulling ceremony at Viswema , a feast is hosted by the local Naga people to all at the Viswema where all varities of Naga food is served for all(Rice,pork,Chicken,Worms,boiled vegetables,beans mix,Galho) and the authentic Rice beer.You can drink Unlimited :)

11.Because you'll always meet beautiful and friendly people

12.Rock Concert,Choir Competition,Musical festival at Naga Solidarity Park are the other reasons for everyone to come to Nagaland during Hornbill Festival.

Blog about Home Stay at Jakhama.

The Streets Of Badami

“If a street has a spirit, no matter how narrow it is, we can breathe comfortably over there.”
  Mehmet Murat ildan

When in Badami, never miss to walk through these narrow lanes which is full of life. Kids running through these narrow lanes ,
Women getting on with their daily work ,the hens,goats ,monkeys and the cows make these lanes more lively.
Agastya lake is just a few meters away from these lanes where all the womenfolk come down to wash clothes.

Kid Sitting on a tractor

Evolution

Kannada Movie Poster

Rowdies at work

Banashankari Jatre

Banashakari

People here are very courteous, do walk around with a smile  : )
Watch out for the monkeys if you are carrying any eatables visible to them,they do try to snatch them from you.

My earlier post about Badami has information about the places to see around and our stay at Badami.
http://sumanrapaka.blogspot.in/2014/03/badami.html
Flickr Images

Badami-A date at the Chalukya Kingdom

As the dawn breaks , the echo of the monkeys fighting up the caves, stare of an owl from the tree perch, flight of the pond herons, dogs barking greets me at the Agastya Lake.I'm here standing opposite to these huge red sandstone caves at Badami ,in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka.Badami is famous for these red sandstone cave temples. Badami is also famous for rock climbing and a popular destination among local and international climbers.

Naturally Formed Cave at Badami Caves

It was an extended weekend trip to Badami which is around 510Kms from Bangalore and this 
time travelled in train and reached Badami on the Valentines day.One can either take a sharing auto or a KSRTC bus to travel to the main town which is around 5kms from the railway station.
Day one of our trip started immediately after getting freshen up and a quick breakfast at the hotel where we were staying.We booked our stay at the KSTDC hotel,Mayura Chalukya. This hotel was just more than what we had asked for, nice rooms well maintained and economical. Badami caves was just 1.2kms away from our hotel and we decided to walk through the town to reach there.As i walk through the lanes of this 6th century chalukya kingdom town, i see most of the houses with vibrant doors,people dressed traditionally , men sitting around the banyan tree and at the community centers relaxing and playing games.There is also a tanga (horse drawn carriage) stand at badami market. 

Vibrant Doors@Badami

18 armed Nataraja sculpture is a never missed out picture taken by the travelling/tourists coming to this place.

There are four caves carved out of the red sandstone and  one natural cave at Badami all facing the Agastya Lake. Badami fort is right opposite to these Caves on top of the cliff and the entrance to this is through the Badami Museum .There is a temple and a dargah on top of this fort.The huge granaries on top are believed to be the storage of Tipu Sultan's treasury. 

Temple on top for the badami Fort

View of the Badami town from top of the fort.

Believed to be the storage of Tipu Sultan's Treasury

One of the shrines on top of the fort.

Bhuthnatha temple down the Agastya Lake makes it more scenic because of its location before the lake and the huge lawns.

Bhuthnatha temple(Bhoothnath temple) 

Bhuthnatha Temple

Local People Washing Clothes along the Agastya lake

It was the last day of the month long Banashankari jatre(Fair),which is a religious/cultural festival when we arrived at badami on 14th of february. Banashankari temple is around 6kms from badami town and one can travel by shared autos, buses.We got an auto near our hotel who charged Rs 100/- for all the three of us.

Banashankari Jatre

Colors at Banashankari Jatre

The other major historical and religious places around Badami are Pattadakal,Aihole and Mahakunta. We hired an Auto for going to these places who normally charge around Rs 500-600 depending upon the the time you want to spend. We started at 8'0 clock in the morning.Looked like this price was a standard to travel to these places. 
Pattadakal or Pattadakalu is included in the list of world heritage sites and lies on the banks of Malaprabha river which is 22kms from Badami. Will write more in a different post about pattadakal and Aihole.

Pattadakal

Ten Kms away from Pattadakal is Aihole which is a temple complex and lies along the Malaprabha river.

Aihole Temple Complex

People taking a dip at the Mahakuta well.

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Getting there : GOLGUMBAZ EXP train from Bangalore to Badami.A sleeper class train ticket costs around Rs 280/-
Many buses also ply along this route.
Stay at Badami:Hotel Mayura Chalukya. Rs1000-2500 per room depending upon the type of room. This was one of the best hotels we stayed at for that price range.We stayed at the old building at the backside and i just loved that place. Nice clean rooms with TV, hot water.
KSTDC hotels also have an online booking.
http://www.karnatakaholidays.net/karnataka_hotels_badami.htm

Do try the authentic North Karnataka food.

Will post more about the streets of Badami,Aihole ,Pattadukallu and Mahakunta.
Flickr Images

Streets of Badami post  http://sumanrapaka.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-streets-of-badami.html

Getting to Jakhama from Dimapur/Home Stay at Jakhama

Travelling to kohima from dimapur is much better in taxis(You can get taxis outside dimapur railway station and make sure to book at the taxi counter, which reads "Nagaland taxi Association" who charge Rs 220/- per person.You can always book the whole taxi for yourself for Rs 880/-) and most of the taxi drivers speak English and Hindi.The road from dimapur to kohima had some bad stretches when we traveled. One can see lots of army personnel patrolling these roads.After reaching Kohima , we took another taxi to reach Network bus stop from where we can got shared taxi(Sumo) to Jakhama( Rs 40/- per person).
Jakhama is 16Kms away from kohima and 5kms away from Kisama, which is the main venue for Hornbill Festival.

We booked our accommodation at an home stay in Jakhama, Ono homestay.A decent big room with room heater and a common bath room with 24hrs hot water supply,this was more than what we imagined. Our stay at Ono Homestay for 7days was just fantastic. We got to taste traditional Naga food which included the hottest Naga chili pickle in the world. Though Naga's are found of meat we got the best vegetarian food at our homestay. Our breakfast included the famous Naga dish Galho, cornflakes, pottridge, omlet, toasted bread,fruits,fruit juice,tea :) And not to mention the amazing view of the hills and the village from the balcony.
Sun comes up pretty early in the this part of the world.By 6'0 clock in the morning it would be bright and shinning.

Picture Courtesy: Vaibhav

View of the hills from our room at our homestay. 

Sunrise as seen from our room

Jakhama Village is very near to our homestay and we went round the village and got to learn lots of history,stories of the village and again thanks to our homestay owner who took us on the first day and later introduced us to her friend who was just an awesome guy with loads of knowledge not just about Jakhama village but Nagaland on the whole.We missed going to dzuko valley, which is one must do trek during our trip this time.Maybe another day.
I would always cherish my stay at Ono Homestay for everything. They were just awesome hosts :)
Contact Details:
Ono Homestay,Jakhama Town, Nagaland
email: onohomestay12@gmail.com
phone no:9615668971
In case you stay at Ono Homestay, don't miss the sunrise from the balcony :)

Kachari Ruins, Dimapur

Dimapur for me is like an entry point into the state of Nagaland.
It was six in the morning when we reached dimapur from guwahati in Nagaland Express train.The first look of dimapur coming out of the railway station looked more like a commercial city with taxi drivers shouting for passengers to kohima. We checked into a small hotel just opp to dimapur railway station for freshen up.While having our breakfast in a Punjabi hotel opp the railway station , we inquired about the way to Kachari Ruins with the guy sitting at the cash counter and his reaction was he never heard that name.We came out and asked an autowala to take us to Kachari ruins and he too was not aware of the place. Then i started explaining him about the old ruins and then about the Pandavas(Yes from the Mahabharata) and the autowala immediately understood the place we were inquiring about  and told us the place is called as rajbari ruins .Well there is an story about these ruins which i heard from a friend of mine that Hidimba(wife of Bhima) used to play chess here and the huge pillars/rocks were her chess pieces.This place is not very far from dimapur railway station. Auto person can charge around Rs 20-30.

Kachari Ruins @ Dimapur

Kachari Ruins

There is no entrance fee for anybody into these ruins, but would have been good to collect a nominal fee and maintain this place properly.It would take an hour to go around the ruins , but depends upon an individual. we stayed there for two hours.It was wonderful to visit these ruins and a must visit place when you are in this part of the world.There are suggestions not to stay late at this place and my suggestion would be to avoid talking to any person who approaches while you are inside the ruins.We came back to dimapur railway station to take a taxi to kohima, for horn bill festival. One can hire a whole taxi for Rs 880/- for them self alone or can take a shared taxi for Rs 220/- per head which we did.The prepaid taxi stand is just outside the railway station.

Gray Pansy@kachari Ruins

Dragon Fly @Kachari ruins

We can see lots of different butterflies, lizards in these ruins.

Garden Lizard@Kachari Ruins

Entrance @ Kachari Ruins

Indian Travelers need a Inner line permit to travel in Nagaland which can be obtained online also.