Nagaland

Nagaland is hill country on the Myanmar frontier, and its identity is tribal rather than territorial. Each of the sixteen recognised tribes, Angami, Ao, Konyak, Sumi, Lotha, Chakhesang and others, has its own language, textile pattern and agricultural calendar. The easiest way to meet them all is the Hornbill Festival at Kisama Heritage Village, held from the first to the tenth of December, where morungs are rebuilt, log drums are hauled out and rice beer flows. Kohima carries a different weight: in 1944 the Japanese advance was stopped here, and the Commonwealth war cemetery on Garrison Hill carries the epitaph asking visitors to tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today. Khonoma, an Angami village fifteen kilometres away, banned hunting and became known as Asia's first green village; its stone gates and alder terraces are worth a night. In Mon district, the Konyak keep facial tattoos of the headhunting era, and at Longwa the chief's longhouse straddles the international border. Signature journeys pair Kohima, Khonoma and Dzukou with Mon.