Northeast States

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Indian one-horned rhinoceros (rhino), Rhinoceros unicornis, with calf, Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India, Asia

Getty Images/Robert Harding World Imagery

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Overview

Sometimes the Seven Sisters of the Northeast (the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura) hardly seem like India at all. The region's hundreds of tribes and subtribes are slowly ceding to modernity, but remain extremely diverse. Nagaland's former headhunters now go to church on Sundays. Many Arunachalis also attend church-like buildings on Sundays – to worship the sun and moon. Cloudy Himalayan valleys near the border of Tibet are dotted with colorful monasteries, echoing with Buddhist chants and clashing cymbals.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

Nongriat Root Bridges

Meghalaya

The most fascinating sights around Cherrapunjee are the incredible living bridges – formed from rubber-fig roots that ingenious Khasi villagers have, over…

Kaziranga National Park

Assam

The park’s 2400 one-horned rhinos represent about two-thirds of the world’s total population (in 1904, there were only 200). Kaziranga offers popular 4WD…

Samten Yongcha Gompa

Arunachal Pradesh

Thought to be about 400 years old, the charming wooden Samten Yongcha Gompa stands on a breezy hilltop 6km (as the crow flies) west of Mechuka, fronted by…

Tawang Gompa

Arunachal Pradesh

The magical Tawang Gompa, founded in 1681 in what was then a Monpa royal palace, overlooks the town from its ridgetop site. Reputedly the world’s second…

Kohima War Cemetery

Nagaland

The immaculately maintained war cemetery contains the graves of over 1400 British, Indian and other Allied soldiers, killed in or around Kohima in 1944 as…

Ujjayanta Palace

Northeast States

Agartala’s centrepiece is this striking, dome-capped palace, fronted by two reflecting lakes and housing the large, outstanding Tripura State Museum. The…

Kangla Fort

Northeast States

The vast, low-walled fort at the heart of Imphal was, with a few interruptions, the political and religious heart of Manipur for many centuries until…

Ima Keithel

Northeast States

Housed in three big colonnaded buildings with pagoda-style roofs, this huge bazaar with over 4000 all-women vendors is reckoned to be the largest of its…

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