Cab Services for your Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya Holiday

Are you planning a holiday to North East India, especially the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya? Are you planning on covering multiple places during your trip? If yes, then you most probably have a road trip on your mind. Train and flight connectivity in the North East of India is fairly limited and you have to reach most destinations by road. Either, you can drive or ride on your own or hire a comfortable car for your holiday. This article is for you in case you are looking at hiring a comfortable cab/taxi/car for your holiday to Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya.



One of my favourite drivers to explore North East India is Madan Basnat. I have been availing his cab services for the last 15 years. He owns a one year old Innova Crysta (with a Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya permit) and a white board Mahindra Bolero that can be used to explore the other parts of North East India. I have traveled in both these vehicles, though on my most recent trip this March, I traveled in his new Innova Crysta for two weeks while exploring Central and Eastern Arunachal Pradesh.



Madan Basnat is a native of Tezpur in Assam. He is of Nepali origin and has spent most of his life driving the mountain roads of North East India. When he started his career, he drove trucks and then moved to driving for the Indian army and border police. For the past two decades, he has been driving his guests in his own vehicle. As he is well traveled in the region, he is well versed with the route, the languages, the different tourist attractions, the challenges that come with the terrain and the local permit requirements.



Some of the highlights of traveling with Madan Basnat:

1) His Innova car is just one year old and is in excellent road worthy condition.

2) Madan is a capable, reliable and able driver.

3) In the North East, people usually drive between 5 AM and 6 PM. Night driving is generally avoided. So, please try not to push the driver to drive during the night. One or two days might be fine. But, in such challenging terrain, the driver needs to remain fresh and alert at all times.

4) Madan is a friendly chap and is extremely accommodating with the itinerary, pit stops, etc. He may have some ideas to share on his own from time to time.

5) If you are planning to rough it out on your own in your tent or sleeping bag for a few nights, do let Madan know well in advance so that he can carry his bedding and sleeping bag with him and rough it out along with you.

6) Madan offers full pick-up and drop service from your airport or railway station.

7) He manages a small basic property near Nameri Tiger Reserve in Assam. If you wish, you can ask him to arrange for accommodation at his place for a night or two.

8) Madan is a great person to have a conversation with while you are on the road or when you are at the hotel. He has lots of stories to share.



His pricing is fairly simple: INR 5500 per day per 250 kms drive for the Innova car. Extra kilometres, if any to be charged separately or you can fill the fuel for that. Accommodation and food, if not given free by the hotel where you are staying, you will have to pay the bills. Typically, in popular tourist circuits, drivers are given free accommodation and food by the hotel because they bring tourists to the establishment. However, this doesn’t apply to remote corners of the North East, say central and eastern Arunachal Pradesh for example, where you have to pay for the driver accommodation and food in addition to your accommodation and food. If you don’t want the headache of paying separate bills, he charges an all inclusive rate of INR 7000 per day per 250 kms of driving. For the Bolero car, he might charge a lower fee. It is best to call him and figure out the latest prices.

During my trip to Aalo, Mechuka, Lamang, Roing, Anini, Tezu, Namsai & Kaho in Arunachal Pradesh and Guwahati & Dibrugarh in Assam, I paid him INR 5500 per day and I took care of all his food and accommodation expenses. He stayed and ate with us during the entire trip just like one of us. Madan is like a travel friend and is a great person to explore North East India with.



To contact Madan Basnat and to book your road trip, you can call him at +91 94018 38475 or at +91 84029 56554 (also his whatsapp number). You can mention my name (Sankara) or my blog name (Be on the road) to get royal treatment on your road trip to Arunachal pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya. I recommend Madan with multiple thumbs up.

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Nameri National Park: Assam’s Wildlife Haven

It is the most scenic of all national parks in Assam. It is a paradise for birdwatchers and it is teeming with bio diversity. I am talking about the lush green Nameri National Park that overlooks the Eastern Himalayas in the background and has the lively Jia Bhoroli river criss-crossing the national park. Historically popular with anglers, today, Nameri is popular with wildlife researchers and enthusiasts.



It is home to over 600 floral species including rudrakhsa and rare orchids. Close to 400 bird species have been recorded here including the Great Pied Hornbill, white winged wood duck, rufus necked hornbill, black stork, ibis bill and more. And in terms of mammals, Nameri national park provides habitat for Asian elephant, royal bengal tiger, Indian leopard, clouded leopard, marbled cat, gaur, barking deer, dhole, Himalayan black bear, capped langur, Malayan giant squirrel, wild boar, slow loris and many more. It is also home to a wide range of reptiles, amphibians and fishes.



But, unlike other national parks, there are no jeep safaris here. Instead, you explore the forest on foot, on top of an elephant or by bicycle. And all of these in the company of an armed forest guard in case you happen to come real close to a wild animal. It is this slow exploration in the wild that makes Nameri so special. If you are patient and quiet, you will become one with the jungle in a matter of an hour and you will get to see wild animals in close proximity and that too without bothering them. And when you feel like you need a break from the steamy jungles, you can head to the Jia-Bhoroli river, get on a raft, feel the wind on your face and see the jungle from a whole new perspective.

If you are a student of nature or a wildlife enthusiast, you will really appreciate Assam’s wildlife haven. I would recommend this national park to one and all in a heart beat. That is how rich and bio diverse it is!



How to reach there:

The nearest international airport would be at Guwahati, about 204 kms away. The nearest domestic airport would be Itanagar, about 153 kms away.

The nearest railway station with the best connectivity would be Guwahati (204 kms away). However, trains headed towards Lumding or Dibrugarh would stop at Chaparmukh (about 121 kms away).

The nearest large bus station would be Tezpur (about 37 kms away).

If you reach Tezpur, then you can either hire a cab or shared cab to reach Nameri. If you arrive at any other location, it would be best to have your own mode of transportation or else be prepared to have a lot of time at hand.



Best season to visit:

The best time to visit Nameri National park would be between November and March. Summers can be quite warm and humid and the national park receives plentiful rains during the monsoon season. Winter months are best for photography and perfect for long walks. If rafting is on your mind, you can visit during summer or during the rains.



Where to stay:

My favorite place to stay at Nameri National park is Nameri Eco Camp, the angling, birding and wildlife den situated right beside the forest boundary. This place is simple, cosy, offers great forest guides and most importantly serves delicious local cuisine. The other places worth staying are Wild Mahseer, Nameri Baligara camp and Jia Bhorali wild resort.



Where to eat:

The best place to eat would be at your place of stay as other places to eat are quite far away. If you desperately need to eat something different, then the city of Tezpur (37 kms away) would be your nearest bet.



Other wildlife sanctuaries nearby:

1) Kaziranga national park: A UNESCO World heritage site and a wildlife gem of North East India

2) Eaglenest wildlife sanctuary: Birdwatching paradise in the Eastern Himalayas of Arunachal Pradesh

3) Manas national park: A national park, a UNESCO natural world heritage site, a project tiger reserve, an elephant reserve and a biosphere reserve located in the Himalayan foothills of Assam

4) Orang national park: A national park on the northern bank of the Brahmaputra river that is home to a wide range of wildlife species

5) Hoolongopar gibbon wildlife sanctuary: Home to India’s only ape – the Hoolock Gibbon

6) Buxa tiger reserve: A beautiful national park situated in northern West Bengal



Other nearby tourist attractions:

1) Majuli island: A gorgeous island on the mighty Brahmaputra river

2) Bomdila: A beautiful town surrounded by the Himalayas and home to a large Buddhist monastery

3) Dirang: A pristine hill station in Western Arunachal Pradesh

4) Tawang: India’s true Shangri-la and a stunning Himalayan town located at 10,000 feet

5) Tea estates: The many tea estates on the plains of Assam that share its borders with wildlife sanctuaries and national parks

6) Shopping lanes of Guwahati: Paltan bazaar, Pan bazaar and Fashion bazaar are few of those markets where one can shop for everything from tea, bamboo products, silk sarees, metal items, wooden products and much more

7) Kamakhya temple: A 8th century temple and one of the oldest of the 51 Shakti Pithas. A must visit place in Guwahati

8) Sela pass: A high altitude mountain pass at 13,700 feet that connects Tawang with the rest of the country. It is also a great birdwatching destination

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How I spent a surreal rural holiday in a remote Mishing tribal village of Assam?

Imagine this!



You are surrounded by lush tea gardens and mighty tall trees of the Kaziranga National Park. You are staying in a chang house (house on stilts). You wake up to the sound of the whistling thrush and you sip your evening tea to the chatter of a rich number of bird species. You are truly in the lap of nature. Where farm lands end, the forests begin. Greenery, pristine nature and calmness is omnipresent.



And that’s not just it. Every day, you are treated to lip smacking authentic Assamese cuisine and some home brewed rice beer. Your leisurely walks include walking by paddy fields, vegetable gardens, banana plantations and tea gardens. And for more excitement there is always bird watching and wildlife sightings. For company, you have smiling kids and very humble and affectionate locals.



I was treated to such an experience during a rural holiday in a remote tribal village of Assam. This village called Panbari is situated in the floodplains of the mighty Brahmaputra river and is located tantalizingly close to the Kaziranga National Park boundary.



The people of this village are simple, yet very hard working and lead a fairly independent life, as in, they don’t depend much on goods and services from the outside world. Each family have their own cows, goats, pigs and hens so there is no paucity of milk, butter, yogurt, eggs and meat. Each family have their small tea garden that is located right behind their home so no need to go to the market to buy tea and they sell the excess produce to the market to make some money. They have their own fish ponds, vegetable gardens, paddy field and banana plantations, so pretty much they always have a steady supply of home grown organic food all through the year.



Their dwellings, called chang houses are simple elevated structures that are designed to handle the heavy rains, flooding during the monsoons and the extremely humid weather. Bamboo, mud and dried palm leaves make up the bulk of the structure, but these days, the villagers are leveraging the use of bricks and cement too. The village has electricity, but power cuts are quite common during the summer and monsoon months and hence most traditional homes are built with proper ventilation and consistent cross air flow.



Both the men and women of this village do hard work. While the men wear their gamcha (cotton sarong) and zaapi (bamboo hat) and work in the farms and fields, the women wearing their traditional Mekhla Chador do all the household chores, take care of cattle, pick tea leaves and weave clothes using traditional looms. Apart from farming, the men of this village do odd construction jobs, cut trees in the forest, work as forest guides in the Kaziranga National Park when the park is open and weave bamboo baskets when they either get old or when they do not have any outside work contracts.



Most of the women of this village have been taught to weave by their mothers, grandmothers and/or sisters. Typically, each home has a traditional loom in front of the house that the women in the house make use of during their free time. But, these days, under the umbrella of Impulse Social Enterprises, an NGO, that promotes the well being of the women of North East India and a Government of India initiative that is working towards preservation of rural weaving and handicrafts, more women are learning the craft and are spending more of their time weaving.



In fact, I went to this village mainly to experience their traditional weaving up close and bring that learning to all of you.



This traditional weaving initiative has ensured a slightly better livelihood for these people. More income certainly adds a touch of modernization, but these villagers love their roots, so they still try to follow their ancient methods and practices. The only good thing that modernization brought to their life is good education for their children, especially all their girl children, which like we all know is the right way to go.



A new revenue stream for these villagers is rural tourism, where they offer a room in their home and share their food for a small fee. It is not organized tourism, but it is definitely catching the fancy of the villagers. And that is how I landed in this Assamese village that is made up of 80 to 100 Mishing tribal people.



One of the highlights of this rural holiday in Assam has to be its people. These warm hearted, helpful and ever smiling people teach us a thing or two about humanity, which we urban citizens seem to have forgotten or lost somewhere. Right from the time they picked me up from the bus stop on the highway to treating me like one of their own, I was blown away by their hospitality.



And don’t even get me started on their delicious food and fresh rice beer. The Jhulokia chilli, freshly ground mustard seeds, farm fresh vegetables and young bamboo shoots (I absolutely relish them), juicy (yes, very juicy) rice grown in their farm, the secret ingredients of the women of the house and the fact that they cook their food in mustard oil makes the humble village meal a gastronomic journey into traditional Assamese cuisine.



This rural holiday in Assam offered me to perfect recipe to enjoy our land’s traditions, food and nature while rejuvenating my body, mind and soul. My typical day involved taking walks in the village, striking conversations with the friendly people over some tea and fresh betel nut, teaching the kids some photography and playing football with them, watching the women weave their magic with their hands and traditional looms, trying my hand at cattle herding and farming and I even touched a baby rhinoceros at a nearby animal rescue center.



The foodie in me loved the traditional cuisine, the birdwatcher in me loved the chirps, whistles and songs, the cultural lover in me loved experiencing the day to day life of these villagers, the simpleton in me loved the basic living where you wake up to the sun and sleep to the gentle night breeze and last but not the least, the Indian in me loved yet another of India’s gorgeous villages.



The Mishing village of Panbari was everything that I had wanted in a rural holiday. In fact, I felt richer, happier and more content than before. I definitely learnt a thing or two from its super hard working and affectionate people. This is one place I wouldn’t mind returning to in a jiffy! Definitely a off beat holiday gem!

Bookings:



If you wish to spend your rural holiday in this village, try contacting Ranjith Doley at +91 96137 86941. He was my host and his wife is a master weaver. I don’t know if there is any other way to make bookings here.

Other Nearby Attractions apart from this Mishing Village:



1) Center for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation – Just a short walk from Panbari is this animal rescue and care center where you can get up close with the animals that have been rescued from floods, poachers and/or traps. This is a great way to explore more of the village and get close to some of the wild denizens of Kaziranga National Park. You can also opt to volunteer here if that is your area of interest.



2) Kaziranga National Park – If this park is open, this is one of India’s best wildlife safaris as it allows you to sight elephants, tigers, the one-horned rhinoceros, wild water buffalo and many more exotic species. The main entrance of Kaziranga is only a 40 minute drive from Panbari village.

3) Hoolongopar Gibbon Sanctuary – If you wish to see India’s only ape, head to Hoolongopar Gibbon Sanctuary, which is only a couple of hours away from Panbari. Do make sure to carry your binoculars and/or big zoom lenses as these apes are totally arboreal (they are always up in the trees).



4) Ancient Kingdom of Sibsagar – A couple of hours from Panbari is the ancient Ahom Kingdom of Assam in today’s Sibsagar. This trip is ideal for those history and temple lovers.

5) Majuli – If India’s largest riverine island is on your agenda, Majuli is the perfect choice. In 3 hours, you can reach this island from Panbari. You could either stay back on the island or return to the village at night.



6) Dibrugarh – Even though tea estates are to be found all over the region, I am kind of partial towards the lush tea estates and forests between Dibrugarh and Tinsukia. This is a great way to holiday in the lap of nature.

How to get here:



Guwahati would be the nearest airport with the best connectivity, but Dibrugarh might be the closest airport in terms of distance. The national highway runs just 4 kms from the village so buses are available in plenty. Golaghat would be the nearest railway station. Hiring a cab, taxi or a self-drive car might be the most prudent choice given the remoteness of the village and the lack of access to other tourist attractions.

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Assam’s Mishing Tribal People: A Photo Series

North East India is one of the best places in the country if you are interested in unique cultures. These 7 states house more tribes than the rest of the country. And the best part is that these tribal people still follow their ancient traditions and that offers a fantastic experience for a rural tribal holiday with them. One such tribe is the Mishing tribe of Assam. These meat and fish loving Hindus who live on the flood plains of the Brahmaputra river are known for their artisan weavers, their house on stilts, their delicious food, their hospitable nature and their many amazing traditions.

I had the privilege of staying with them in their village and watching their life from close quarters. I liked this rural experience so much that I want to return there at the earliest and explore more of their unique cultures and traditions with them. It is from this rural holiday in Assam that I bring this photo series. I hope these photographs of the Mishing Tribal people egg you on towards this part of Incredible India.

Above Photo: The women of Assam are known for their colorful traditional apparel called the Mekhla and Chador. This woman in picture is a master artisan weaver and the Mekhla Chador that she is wearing has been hand woven from her.

 

This Mishing gentleman is wearing a traditional hat called the Zaapi. This Zaapi comes in extremely handy to beat the sun and the rain while they work outdoors.



While younger men work in the farms, the older men work inside the home. This 60+ year old gentleman is weaving a bamboo basket here. The work is slow, but the final products are very rugged.



In addition to weaving, the women of the Mishing tribe also work in the tea gardens and the neighbouring forest. In this picture, they are returning with a head load of firewood from the forest.



Here, a Mishing tribal woman is being trained on the latest weaving techniques. The Indian government arranges such training to create sustainable livelihood for them.



The Mishing women work in the tea gardens and farms as well. In this picture, the woman is returning home with some greens from the forest.



This is a mother and a daughter from the Mishing tribe of Assam. The daughter was all smiles after chomping on a chocolate biscuit and the mother cannot stop but feel happy for her daughter.



Work for Mishing tribal men is strenuous as can be seen from the weather beaten face of this middle aged gentleman.



A Mishing Tribal women is weaving on the traditional loom in front of her house. As a thumb rule, women weave once they are done with all the house chores. They try and weave for a few hours every day.



These kids are all smiles as I train the camera lens at them while interacting with them in their traditional bamboo stilt homes.



This Mishing tribal woman with her big red bindi gave me the smirk when I was photographing the weaving training facility in the village.



A Mishing tribal woman wearing a colorful Mekhla is preparing the comb for the traditional loom.

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Hotel Piccolo: Comfortable Base to Explore Assam’s Ancient Kingdom

Far in the forests of the Brahmaputra river basin exists a land that was once a powerhouse of a kingdom. Known as the Ahom kingdom, this Assamese kingdom evaded all kinds of influences (Mughal, Burmese, mainland India and the British to a large extent) for a very long time and hence its past has survived the vagaries of time. I am talking about the gorgeous cultural town of Sibsagar, that is an ode to Assam’s glorious past. I recently visited this historic town during an exploration of East Assam and during this visit, I stayed at Hotel Piccolo, one of the well known hotel names in the city. The below hotel review is based on this hotel experience of mine.

1) One of the best perks of staying at Hotel Piccolo is its proximity to the market, the Shiva Dol, the Sibsagar tank, restaurants, ATMs, bus stops, auto stops and basically all conveniences. One can simply walk to all these tourist attractions and conveniences. And a 5 minute autorickshaw ride takes you to the older part of town that houses the palaces and other remnants of the Ahom kingdom.

2) The hotel is one of the iconic names in the city, though like most of Assam, the rooms are a bit expensive for the facilities provided. They do have all the modern amenities like air-conditioned, hot water geyser, satellite television, backup power, laundry and the likes. And, they have great parking space available that comes in handy in case you are on a driving holiday.



3) Breakfast is included in the room tariff and is served every morning at the restaurant downstairs. Breakfast is simple, but wholesome.

4) The hotel has an in-house restaurant that is known in the city for its great continental and Indian food. However, they do not serve Assamese cuisine. So, if you wish to smack on some local delicacies, you would need to head to the nearby restaurants.

5) The hotel offers free wi-fi, but the connectivity was pretty poor when I was around.

6) The hotel staff are helpful and they give you directions and suggestions based on your itinerary.

In overall, Hotel Piccolo is a good family hotel that offers enough modern amenities and is located real close to the temples. It might be one of the best in the city, though a bit dated.

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