Exploring Arunachal Pradesh with a band of brothers

We started from Guwahati to Dibrugarh Town by train. No of trains are available in this route. It took us almost 10hrs to reach there. Our staying accommodation was done at our friend's place so we didn't book a hotel. Dibrugarh is a beautiful town & good hotels are available all across. At night we slept off early as next day we had to start our journey as soon as possible.

Our trip started at 7.30 AM. The destination was Ziro valley, Arunachal Pradesh. Our friend took his own car for the trip. If you book a four wheeler for 3days, it will cost 5000/6000 INR excluding hotels & food.

Dibrugarh to Ziro Valley is approx 250kms. As the highway is extremely good, we reached iconic bogibeel bridge by 8.30AM.

From there we took the route of Lakhimpur which was 1hr away. There we applied for ILP. By 2hrs ILP was ready & we had our breakfast. There are two roads from Lakhimpur to Ziro. 1. Via Kimin 2. Via Naharlagun. We took the 1st route but hell, the road was too adventurous to cope up with. Sometime I had to stop the car to click photos. Being an amateur travel photographer, this is only thing I can do well (Mom said). We reached Potin at 3pm. It was a winter evening & we were almost shivering. After lunch we left Potin without wasting anytime as Ziro was 54kms away. Things were getting tough from Potin. It was a straight mountain road. Finally reached Hapoli at 7.30pm at night & booked hotel for 2days. I ordered dinner from another hotel. Food was fresh & hot. As temperature goes down to 0'c during winter night, some Rum & Whiskey were needed to keep us warm .

Cost of Hotel : 900*2 = 1800 (4 persons)

Food : 1500/- (4 persons)

Hapoli to Ziro is only 10kms. We left hotel to explore Ziro after having breakfast. There are 2 parts of Ziro.

1. Old Ziro

2. New Ziro (Hapoli)

First we went to Myolyang Village. It was like country side of Switzerland. From the top of the village, the extension of Himalaya with a ice cap was clearly visible.

Next was Old Ziro village. This is the place of Apatani Tribe. They are well educated, well mannered & helpful. One of our Apatani friend took us to hilltop to show how old Ziro looks like from top. Then he took us to the ground of Ziro Festival. I started shooting the dramatic sunset of Arunachal Pradesh. Temperature was going down drastically & we had to make arrangement for bonfire. We came back to hotel by 7.30pm & followed the same routine of previous day.

It was time to say bye to my Ziro friends with a promise of visiting them once again. For the first time in my life, I felt so close with nature. We left Hapoli at 7.30 O'clock & took the route of Naharlagun. Finally we reached Dibrugarh by 5.30 pm. I took the train for Silchar at 8pm to head back home.