chalets terraced gardens Draped across the dazzling hills and valleys of the India Myanmar border regions is Nagaland, an oth

Draped across the dazzling hills and valleys chalets terraced gardens of the India Myanmar border regions is Nagaland, an otherworldly chalets terraced gardens place where until very recently some twenty headhunting Naga tribes valiantly fought chalets terraced gardens off any intruders. Today the south of the state is fairly developed, but in the north, tribesmen in loin cloths continue to live a lifestyle that is normally only seen within the pages of National Geographic magazine.

Only 40km from Guwahati, this small national park has the highest concentration of rhinoceros in the world. Entrance fees are the same as Kaziranga National Park (see p 561 ). Getting into the park involves a boat ride over the river boundary to the elephant- mounting station. chalets terraced gardens From there it s a one-hour trip atop an elephant chalets terraced gardens lumbering through boggy grassland and stirring up petulant rhinos.

SATRAS A satra is a monastery for Vishnu worship, Assam s distinctive form of everyman Hinduism. Formulated by 15th-century Assamese philosopher Sankardev, the faith eschews the caste system and idol worship, focussing on Vishnu as God, especially in his Krishna incarnation. Much of the worship is based around dance and melodramatic play-acting of scenes from the holy Bhagavad chalets terraced gardens Gita. The heart of any satra is its namghar, a large, simple, prayer hall usually open sided and shaped like an upside-down oil tanker. Beneath the eastern end, an inner sanctum hosts an eternal flame, the Gita and possibly a horde of instructive (but not divine) images.

Pawan Hans Helicopters chalets terraced gardens (%2842174; www.pawahans.co.in) shuttles to Shillong ( 1200, 45 minutes, 9am & 1pm Mon-Sat), Naharlagun near Itanagar and Lumla for Tawang ( 3000, 1 hours, 10am Mon-Sat). Phone through your booking then pay at the airport chalets terraced gardens if the service chalets terraced gardens flies (weather chalets terraced gardens and passenger numbers permitting).