Trip to Kohima-Dimapur - December 2011



A part of Kohima city seen from Raj Bhavan

Some time in April 2011, my friend  K Srinivasan (KS) asked me  whether I would be interested in joining him for a trip to attend the Hornbill Festival in Kohima (Nagaland) during the first week of December 2011 and to visits Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya thereafter. Since I had never made a trip to any one of the north-eastern states, I readily agreed to join him for this trip. The first thing KS did was to book the hotel in Kohima as during Hornbill Festival week, the tourist season would be at the peak level. Local newspaper reports indicated that during the Hornbill Festival, only about 20 percent of the tourists can be accommodated in decent hotels in Kohima. Other tourists will have to manage in some budget hotels, home stays around Kohima or in some tent accommodation in the surrounding villages. We had a taste of this difficulty. Despite trying to book a descent hotel almost eight months in advance, we could not get accommodation in any of the top hotels in Kohima. Luckily, we got the accommodation in one of the best hotels – Cimborb Hotel. The hotel tariff during the Hornbill Festival almost doubles irrespective of how early one books the hotel. We paid Rs.3000/- for a double room but after seeing the hotel room and facilities, we felt that it was worth the amount. We also booked around the same time the only direct (hopping) flight available from Kolkatta to Dimapur. The flight fare was cheaper than the hotel room tariff we paid!

 

Since the Kolkatta-Dimapur flight was in the morning, we reached Kolkatta from Mumbai in the previous day by flight and stayed overnight in a budget hotel near the airport. The flight to Dimapur (via Dibrugarh) took off about 30 minutes late and reached Dimapur in the early afternoon. Since local buses and share taxis for going to Kohima are available only from the Dimapur bus stand which is about 7 kms from the airport, we took an auto from the airport to reach the NSTC bus stand and took a share taxi from a taxi stand located next to NSTC bus stand (Rs.400/- per head or full taxi for Rs.1500/-) covering a distance of 74 kms. The two lane road (NH-39) maintained by BRO was in excellent condition despite being a curvy hill road and most part of the journey was scenic. I am sure that during rainy season, one would pass through numerous watter falls as they were now almost dried up. On the way, there were many pineapple sellers. The road was dotted on both sides with wild sunflower plants. There were two police check post and one Forest check post located on  NH.29 up to Kohima but none of these check posts made us to show our Inner line Permit (ILP) which were already obtained through post. Our driver revealed that during Hornbill Festival week (December 1-7th), ILPs are not normally checked. But one cannot take a chance.

 

It took about two hours (including a short tea break) to reach Kohima. The peak time traffic on the road made another 30 minutes to reach our hotel. For a change, it was nice to see  cars moving in a single line albeit in a snail’s pace on a two lane road and none tried to break the lane even though the adjunct lane was almost empty. We checked in the hotel at 5.00 p.m. when dusk has already set in. From our hotel window, we could see colourful lights flickering in most of the places in around hotel indicating the start of the Christmas month. About 90 per cent of Nangland's population is Christians. 

Dimapur Airport 

One of the road side hawkers displaying among other things, the famous Bhoot Jolokia chili which is regarded as one of the five most hottest chilies in the world.

Our hotel for six nights at Kohima.

View from Hotel room.

View from our hotel restaurant.

 

Day-1 : Kohima Walking Tour - War Cemetery-Hotel Heritage-Kohima Museum

 

We got up early in the morning as the sun rises in this part of India in winter by 5.30 a.m. The room temperature was 14C which meant that outside temperature be much lower than the room temperature. After a heavy breakfast, we were thinking of hiring a cab to see Kohima's prominent places of tourist interest. However, the hotel manager suggested that  we cover the places by walking which are all within 2-3 kms radius of our hotel. So we decided to do walking trip. We commenced our walking around 9.00 a.m taking the route to the left of our hotel towards the Police Headquarters Building. On the way we cross a market place looking more like a city centre lined with shops on both the sides of the road. When we reached in the vicinity of Raj Bhavan, we enquired from a local person the direction to the War Cemetery. It was during our talks he suggested that we visit former Deputy Commissioner's bungalow which has now been turned in to a hotel called The Heritage. The hotel has only limited rooms probably six in all. But more than the hotel, it was a heritage bungalow having a feel of a colonial era. The intricate wood carved pillars at the entrance of the reception room, some historical items on display in the reception room, the old time brass lanterns hanging on the wood ceiling canopy of the  pathway reminded of a bygone era. 

 

When we came out from The Heritage, the local person to whom we had earlier talked was still around, probably the security staff of Raj Bhavan who was now off duty. He walked with us to show the gate of the War Cemetery and went back. The next one hour or so were spent inside the war cemetery. The plaques of all the soldiers - British, Indian and Nepalese who laid down their lives for depending  Kohima from the onslaught of the Japanese army during World War II. The remains of all those soldiers who died defending Kohima were buried/creme ted  in this place. The plaques are geometrically arranged on stepped lawns giving the description of the soldiers and their regiments. The view of Kohima village from the

cemetery  is beautiful.

 

From the cemetery road, we walked further and came to the market place which looked like Kohima's city centre. We came to know from a passer by that Kohima museum was 3 kms ahead and walking on a crowded road was not going to easy and pleasurable. The passer by suggested that we catch a mini bus just stopped in front of us to pick up the passengers which would drop us at a road diversion to the Museum. Luckily for us, a young boy in the bus not only guided us to get down at the proper point, he also accompanied us up to the gate of the Museum which was about 200m further from the road.

 

The Kohima museum is a 'must see' for those interested in the tribal life of Nagaland and their customs, traditions and vocations etc.  The replicas of all the 16 main tribes of Nagaland are on display including their traditional dresses, weapons, musical instruments, jewelleries etc. In fact, one can identify the tribes on the basis of their dresses and jewelleries. After the completion of the round of Museum which took us about one hour to complete, we got a taxi outside the gate of the museum to drop us at the hotel for Rs.120/-. After finishing our lunch at the hotel's restaurant, we rested for the rest of the day. In any case, the sun sets in this part of India quite early and we were advised not to venture out in the night  in secluded places. 

 

This is the place about 500m away from out hotel  which is one of the bases in Kohima for buses and share taxis. In the background is State Police Head Quarters. 

Many shops in Kohima of the types shown in this picture have iron grill fixed to prevent rogues and drunk customers from robbing the shop specially in the night. All shops generally close by 7.00-8.00 p.m. This shop (Paan-cigarette and general merchant  shops) generally open beyond 8.00 p.m. and it is only these shops which have protective grills.
 

The close-up of the hotel The Heritage.  Thanks to a local Naga  who met us on the way to Raj Bhavan, who suggested us to visit this place and we were not disappointed. During the British time, this was the Deputy Commissioner's Bungalow.
 

Reception room of the hotel The Heritage

 

One of the two wood carved pillars of the hotel The Heritage

One of the brass lamps with meena work hanging in the ceiling of the entrance to The Heritage.

Raj Bhavan Gate

The traffic jam did not on one side of the road did not led to lane cutting.  Note how people are walking on the footpath.  There is a  stiff penalty in Kohima for breaking traffic rules

Kohima War Cemetery. This cemetery was build in memory of those who laid their lives while successfully repulsing the advancing Japanese forces during April-June 1944 of  the Second World War
 

View of Kohima village (a part of Kohima City) seen from War Cemetery

 

 

A beautiful flower found in War Cemetery

 

 

A heavy weight wood carved door of the entrance for open air display of artifacts.

 

 

A stone sculpture in the open air section of the Museum.

 

 

Ashoka Pillar on display in an open air section of the Museum.

 

 

Replica of a Zeliang Naga tribal woman giving a pose of doing a butterfly dance in Kohima Museum.

 

 

The various shapes of head gears used by different Naga tribes in Kohima Museum.

 

Drinking mugs made of bamboo and other woods and also from horns of Mithun

 

 

A Konyak tribal warrior's victory basket.

 

 

Chair assembledd using Elephant's bones

 

 

Human skulls on display in Kohima Museum. Head hunting was practiced by Nagas which prevailed until the start of the 20th century. Taking heads during war by warriors earned them fame, honour and  glory and gave them higher status in the tribal hierarchy.

 

Armlets with spikes were used during war as well as ornaments by wealthy Konyak tribal men and women.
 

Naga neckless

 

 

The museum has also an Art Gallery in the Kohima Museum where paintings by local artists are displayed. This is the painting of a Sema tribal lady.

 

Days-2, 3 and 5 : Visits to Hornbill Festival, Kisama village

 

Please read Hornbill Festival - December 2011

Day-4 : Day Visit to Khonoma Village

Please read Khonoma - A Historical and Green Village in Nagaland

Day- 6 : To Dimapur-Lumding

Today was our last day in Kohima and we were to catch the late afternoon Shatabdi Express from Dimapur for Lumding where we would take a overnight halt to catch early morning Lumding-Silchar Barrak Valley Express. Although we had enough time to reach Dimapur for catching the train, since the check out timing in the hotel was 9.00 a.m., we decided to move to Dimapur well in advance of our train timing and take the opportunity to visit Kachari Kingdom's ruins located in Dimapur. After breakfast and checking out from the hotel, we took a local taxi to drop us at Kohima-Dimapur taxi stand which was located about 2 kms from out hotel. A share-taxi for Dimapur was already waiting for two more passengers. So without wasting any time, we started our journey to Dimapur around 9.15 a.m.

 

In the taxi, we chatted with one local person of Assamese origin (belonging to Shibsagar) who stays in Kohima with Naga wife but works for Vijaya Bank in Dimapur. He said that he was born and brought up in Kohima as his father was a Government employee and located in Kohima during British rule when it was a part of Assam. However, after creation of Nagaland, he did not shift back to Assam as all his close relatives are based in Kohima. He gave his mobile number to us in case we needed any help while in Dimapur.

 

As we reached Dimapur, the good smaritan requested our taxi driver to take us to the ruins of Kachari Kingdom a couple of Kms diversion from the Dimapur taxi stand. The ruins are scattered on a vast open space and are in sambles. Our driver told us that most of the intricately carved items of the Kacheri Kingdom have been stolen for quite a long period until Archaeologically Survey of India took over the place. Presently, ASI has places all the remains of the ruins in 2-3 places and barricated them with high iron grills to prevent further pilferage.

 

After spending some 15 minutes at the ruins, we reached Dimapur railway station by 12 noon. Since our train was schedule to arrive at 4.15 p.m., we took mini lunch in a restaurant next to the waiting room and took rest in a waiting room. The Dimapur railway station deos not have cloak room facility but have retiring rooms. 

 

Shatabdi Express arrived on time and we reached Lumding railway station at 5.30 p.m. by which time the night had set in. A good Samaritan in our coach who works for Indian Oil, guided us to take an autorickshaw outside the station for Hotel Global which was the best hotel available in Lumding at affordable price. He was right. The room was clean and spacious with a sofa, centre glass designer centre table, AC, TV and hot water with a double bed and one single bed, the tariff of Rs.1500/-. The dinner was very good being home cooked by one of the employees of the hotel who stays with his family in the hotel itself.

 

Gateway to  Rajabari Park where ruins of  10th century Kachari kingdom are kept in an enclosure. Dimapur was the ancient capital of Kachari Kingdom. Kacharis, the non-aryan tribals came to this part of India during 10th century and established theor kingdom covering a part of present day Assam, Manipur and Nagaland. Sometime in 15th centuries, Kacharas got converted in Hinduism.

 

One of the intricatelyy carved stone facets on the gateway to the ruins of Kachari Kingdom, Dimapur.

 

 

Ruins of the Kachari Kingdom are kept in an enclosure. Note the mushroom type tops on stone pillars of different sizes which are said to be seen only in this part of whole of south-south-east Asia.
 

Close up of a carved stone pillar with mushroom like top.

 

 

Intricatelyy carved broken stone pillars of Kachari ruins.

 

 

The 'Y' shaped carved stone. - Kachari ruins Dimapur

 

 

Seems to be an intricatelyy carved stone pillar - Kachari ruins, Dimapur.

 

Dimapur railway station entrance.

 

Now a few concluding observations about our visit to Kohima and surrounding places:

 

1. The local people in Kohima and elsewhere were extremely friendly and cooperative. Some of them not only guided us in our destinations, they, in fact, accompanied us up to the nearest points to our places of visits. Most of the local people know Hindi and English.

 

2. When we planned the trip, we were a bit apprehensive about securities as one point of time, there were insurgent groups operating in Nagaland. Eventhough, there were armed policemen almost every 100m in some of the promient roads in Kohima, we were never felt uneasy. In fact, on a couple of occasions, we took a short stroll in the night after dinner without feeling scared.

 

3. The main roads within the Kohima faced traffic jams especially during the morning and evening peak hours when traffic jams extended nearly one km of length.  It was a pleasant surprise to note observe that there was not a single instance of lane cutting despite the other lane being devoid of traffic.

 

4. Most of the shops in Kohima are shut by 8.00 p.m. A few shops which remain opened beyond 8.00 p,m, have grilled window to prevent possible robberies mainly be drunken men in the night.

 

More pictures of Kohima-Dimapur.  



 

Hornbill Festival, Nagaland - December 2011 - A Photoblog

Yimchunger tribal folk dance performance

After spending our first day in Kohima for a local sight-seeing, we were gearing up for our real purpose of visiting Nagaland – watching live the much talked about Hornbill Festival. This has been an annual feature since 2000 to show case the cultural heritage of Nagaland’s 16 main tribes in particular and of seven sister states of North-East in general. The festival is held every year during December 1 to 7^th where all the major 16 tribes of Nagaland expose their folk dances, games,  culinary  expertises, religious ceremonies, handicrafts, paintings, sculptures etc to the domestic and foreign tourists for whom it is an opportunity to understand the culture and heritage of Naga tribes.   The festival opens at 9.00 a.m. and closes at 4.00 p.m. The full schedule of the programmes of the Hornbill Festival is available in some prominent hotels as well as at the gate of the Kisama heritage village on the eve of the Festival. Based on the interest, tourists can decide as to which of the programmes they wish to attend and which can be skipped.

There are two ATMs belonging to State Bank of India and Axis Bank Ltd and a post office inside the Kisama heritage village which are in operations only during the Hornbill Festival week. The parcels of items purchased at the tribal handicraft, jewellery and painting exihibitions can be sent through this post office to whomsoever addressed in India. I am not sure whether this facility is available for foreign addresses.

Day-1 : Inaugural Function of Hornbill Festival

Kisama heritage village which is located 12 kms from Kohima off  Kohima-Imphal highway is the  venue of the festival. The name ‘Kisama’ is derived from two adjoining villages – Kigwema (KI) village and Phesama (SA) village. MA in Nagamese language means village. Although there are local buses plying between Kohima and Kisama and share taxi (Rs.50/- per head for 7 seater and Rs.80/- per head for 4 seater), we engaged a full taxi to drop us at the village (Rs.320/-) as being the first day, we wanted to be there well before the start of the inauguration scheduled at 10.00 a.m. We reached at the gate of Kisama village by 9.00 a.m. There was ample parking space for buses and private cars. There was also a taxi stand close to the gate.

After completing the registration formalities at the gate, we were inside the festival venue. Since we had 45 minutes of spare time before the inaugural function, we visited a few of murungs ( a traditional Naga tribal houses for bachelors). Typically, each murung was constructed with local woods and bamboos with thatched roofs made from dreid bamboo leaves. Experts can distinguish from the style of construction of murung as to which tribe it belonged. Moreover, each murung has its tribal flag hosted on the top of the roofs. A man and a woman in their traditional dresses and jewelleries stood at the door of the murungs. Each murung has enough space for its dancers to rehearse and perform  besides for a food stall for the visitors to taste the food speciality of the respective tribe.

At around 9.30 a.m. dance performers and other artists in their tribal dress and jewelleries left their respective murungs  to the open stadium and sat at the places earmarked for each of the 16 main Naga tribes. The stadium was already being filled with both the domestic and foreign tourists. Both professional and tourist photographers were permitted to move on the stadium ground to take the pictures of tribal dance performers until the arrival of the chief guests.  Exactly at 10.00 a.m., both the Governor and the Chief Minister of Nagaland arrived and inaugural function started. After the end of Governor’s short speech, the Festival was inaugurated with a traditional blessing from a Naga tribal leader. This was followed by glimpses of dances performed by each of the 16 Naga tribal groups. The whole inaugural function was over in one hour. I would rate it as short and sweet.

Thereafter both the VIPs including the Governor and the Chief Ministers mingled with tourists and joined them in visiting some of the murungs. Those who missed the glimpses of the dances at the inaugural function could still watch those dances at the respective tribe’s murungs. Some tasted the exotic non-vegetarian food preparation of each tribe and watched some games inside the murungs. We tasted the rice beers of two tribes in the bamboo mugs. We finished visiting all murungs by 1.00 p.m. The weather was ideal for the event as despite sunny day, it was pleasant to stroll inside the heritage village. The schedule for the afternoon slot in the festival was  the full dance performance of all 16 Naga tribes, the glimpses of which  we had already seen in the inaugural function. Hence, we decided to return to our hotel for lunch and rest thereafter.  As a part of the festival, there were some night programmes like All-India Rock Music Festival, night bazaars etc. which were held in the Kohima City itself. We decided to give them a miss.

Below are some pictures taken during the first day of Hornbill Festival.

Entrance to Kisama Heritage Village (picture taken from inside the village) where Hornbill Festival is being held every year during the first week of December since 2000. 

A typical tribal Murung with flag of the tribe at the top. Bamboos and canes are used in the construction of Murung with thatched roof. In the front is the open space which is being utlised by the folk dancers for rehearsals. On the side is the space for visitors to sit and taste the respective tribal cuisine  prepared in the kitchen, probably located at the backside of the Murung.

Man and woman in their traditional Lotha tribal dress in front of their Morung.

Folk dancers belonging to Sangtam tribe rehearsing the dance in front of their Morung

Sangtam belle

 Dance rehearsal of Konyak tribal folk dancers

Wood sculptures at the entrance to one of the Morungs.

Wood sculpture of a lizard  encircled by a python in one of the tribal murungs.

Kachari man and women in front of their Morung.

Man and woman belonging to Pochury tribe in their tribal costume in front of their Morung.

Sumi man and woman in front of their Morung

Sangtam tribal costume

Man and woman in Yimchunger tribal costume in front of their Morung.

Man and woman in Khiamniugan tribal costumes in front of their Morung.


 Man and woman belonging to Phom tribe.


Man and woman in Konyak tribal costumes in front of their Morung

Konyak belle in her Jewelleries.

Folk dancers belonging to Phom tribe walking towards the stadium to take their allotted place.

Folk dancers belonging to Pochury tribe take their seats in the stadium. In all 16 main Naga tribals groups are allotted pre-determined seating places in the stadium in the front rows to facilitate easy access to the ground when their turns come for dance performance.

Yimchunger tribal folk dancers take their seats in the stadium.

Folk dancers belonging to Kachari tribe.

Folk dancers belonging to Sangtam tribe.

Folk dancers belonging to Khiamniungan.

Folk dancers from Zeliang Naga trribe.

Some of the foreign visitors in the stadium on the first day of Hornbill Festival.

All the tribal participants stand up as the arrival of  Mr Nikhil Kumar, Governor of Nagaland  is announced. The Inaugural function began as per schedule time of 10.00 a.m. The venue for the festival is very scenic surrounded by mountains and forest.

Visitors  and participants stand as National Anthem is being played.

Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio shakes hand with Governor  Nikhil Kumar after his inaugural speech.

As per the tradition, Tribal Guest Yansathung Jami  (right with raised hand) pronounces traditional blessings for the Hornbill Festival.

The first group of tribal folk dancers on the ground.

Yimchunger tribal folk dancers.

Sangtam  folk dancers.

Four group of tribal folk dancers dancing together during the inaugural function. In the background is VIP and VVIP rostrums.

Folk dancers from Khiamnuiungan tribe rehearsing their dance for the afternoon performance.

Two  Angami belles getting ready for an interview with a T V Channel during lunch interlude.

Day-2 : Dance Performances of Various Cultural Groups of Other North-Eastern States.

The second day of the Festival was earmarked for the dance performances by the various cultural groups of other north-eastern states. After finishing the complimentary breakfast at our hotel’s restaurant, we departed for Kisama to watch the dance performances of other north-eastern states. In this programme, we saw tribal dance performances of Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Assam and Manipur. The last one before the lunch break was a synchronised symphony performed  by Nagas, Bodos, Manipuris  which received the standing ovation from the  spectators.

We had decided that today we would have lunch in one of the Naga tribal murungs to taste the tribal food. But we found that it was almost impossible to get the vegetarian lunch. The non-vegetarian section had some of the exotic food items which many non-vegetarians from other parts of India may not like to have them. Luckily for us , we found at the far end of the heritage village a buffet food stall run by Nagaland Women’s Welfare Association. They had arranged separate buffets for vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. The cost of buffet lunch was Rs.300/- per head. We took vegetarian lunch which consisted of fried rice, mixed dal, paneer-mattar, boiled spinach salad, alu-flower and fruit custard.  The buffet lunch was good. Later we found that they also had a stall for tea/coffee, cold drinks and samosas at a very reasonable price.  

After lunch, we came to witness other dances but soon noticed that they were the repetition of the dances  which we had seen in the morning slot. I think the repetition of dance performances was for the benefit of those tourists who missed the morning session. We left the stadium and visited some tribal handicraft and jewellery exhibitions. After buying some handcrafts and jewellery items for my grand children, we  left the venue for our hotel by taking a share sumo @Rs.50/- per head.  During the journey, we noticed that not only the big parking lot outside the gate was full of parked cars and buses, a large number of cars were parked on the Imphal-Kohima highway and the tail of the such parking cars was nearly two kms away from the venue.

Below are some pictures taken during the second day of the Hornbill Festival.

A Mizo tribal sport competition is in progress. In this sport, one leg each of two participants' are tied with a single rope and the participants try to reach a marked line in front of them dragging the other participant. Participant who touches the marked line wins the competion.

Bamboo dance performed by the tribal dancers from Assam.



Tribal dancers from Tripura waiting for their turn for dance performance

Tribal dancers from Tripura performing balancing act during the dance performance. Standing at the far end is the singer and muscians.

Tribal dancers from Mizoram.

Folk dancers from Sikkim

Tribal dancers from Arunachal Pradesh.

Arunachal Pradesh tribal belle 

Last minute adjustment of ear rings of a fellow tribal dancer from Meghalaya.

 Folk dancers from Meghalaya in action


Tribal dancers from Mizoram performing bamboo dance.

Another group of folk dancers from Assam performing war dance.

Another dance performance by folk dancers from Sikkim. This was, like the earlier one was also a foot stepping dance performed by this group with a melodious song and music.

Fire eating display by a Konyak tribal man  from Mon district of Nagaland. He ate red hot charcoal from a burning log.

This Konyak Naga tribal brought this bench from the ground to the sideline holding the bench by his teeth.


 A Naga tribal about to start singing a song with his peculiar instrument as a part of fusion of drum music from 8 North-Eastern states.

 The first to start the fusion drum music from all North-Eastern states was  dholak players from Manipur.

This was the finale of traditional drum music from all North-Eastern states conducted by Naga music maestro Lipokmar Tzudir (back to the camera) who was also the composer of the music.  The exhilarating performance of  this North-Eastern Drum Ensemble kept the crowd mesmerised and the group received the standing ovation from a large crowd assembled at the venue.

We took lunch at this stall where a varieties of options were available including vegetarian food.

Day-4 :  Naga Cultural Perforamnces – Art Gallery – World War – II Museum

We skipped 3^rd day of Hornbill Festival in favour of visiting Khonoma green village. My blog Khonoma - A Historical Naga Village giving an account of our visit is separately posted. We had planned for a day visit either to Dzouku Valley or to Tuophema village. Since visit to Dzouku Valley required a trek of about 4-5 kms to reach the valley, it was not possible to make it a day visit. Tuophema was a tourist village. After getting a feel of the Naga culture and heritage at Hornbill Festival and visting Khonoma village, we felt that we may not get to see something interestingly different from what we had already seen at the festival. So we dropped the idea of one of these visits and instead decided to spend one more day at Hornbill Festival.

We reached Kisama village by 10.00 a.m. As per the schedule of programme, the forenoon was devoted to Naga Cultural Performances. We first decided to complete our visit to Art Gallery which was located near the gate. The art gallery displayed paintings of birds and day to day activities of Nagas by their tribal artists some of whom were present in the gallery to do the live paintings. We spent about 30 minutes in the art gallery. We were impressed by the quality of their paintings. Next, we visited World War II Museum which depicted the chronicles of the Japanese attack on Kohima. The displays in the museum  were impressive. A film on the important event  of  World War II was being shown in a hall at some fixed timings. 

After completing these visits, we proceeded towards stadium where the Naga Cultural performances were in progress. These were mostly related to various Naga tribal  songs and dances  which are performed during various agricultural activities. Being Sunday, the crowd at the Festival was the biggest so far. Between 12 noon and 1.00 p.m. chilli and pork eating competitions were slated to be performed but we skipped them in favour of having a high tea ( with samosas) at Nagaland Women’s Welfare Association’s stall. After a round of a few murungs, we proceeded to towards the Bamboo Hall which was the venue of Miss Nagaland Contest and fashion shows in the evening. The Bamboo Hall looked elegant.

Just opposite the Bamboo Hall, there was a restaurant  which had a viewing gallery to watch the valley and three villages on hill tops. We found that the restaurant was serving mainly non-vegetarian food and momos. On our request, the manager of the restaurant made vegetarian momos which took about 30 minutes to  serve.   That was our lunch for the day. We returned to the hotel at about 2.00 p.m. by a share taxi. We had not intended to see the remaining three days of the Hornbill Festival as we had planned to take a train ride in the  Barak Valley to Silchar and then to Agartala to spend a couple of days before starting the home journey .

Some of the pictures taken during the 4th day of Hornbill Festival are uploaded below :

Kachari group is performing the activity based dance on the fourth day.

Sangtam tribal women show the post-harvesting activities while the other Sangtam women sings the harvesting songs.

The 'tribal chief' testing the suitability of one of his 'warriors' for head hunting by twisting his  ear. If the participant shouts with pain, he is discarded from the head hunting team. Of course, the practice of head hunting ended some time at the beginning of 20th century.

After selection of warriors, the group is ready for a mock war with a neighbouring tribal hemlet.

One of the paintings of a Hornbill, the Nagaland State bird on display at the Art Gallery.



World War II Museum at the edge of Kisama Heritage Village. It is a very interesting museum  depicting the sequence of Kohima War against the advancing Japanese forces. Photography inside the museum is prohibited.

 Kigwema village with its jhum ( terraced) fields seen from Kisama Heritage Village

The Bamboo Pavilion  in Kisama heritage village where, children's painting and  Naga fashion shows were conducted.

Related blogs

Trip to Kohima-Dimapur : December 2011

Khonoma - A Historical and Green Village in Nagaland 

Barrack Valley Express - A Scenic Train Journey