verbier location Assam s must-do attraction is an elephant safari to look for rhinoceros hiding in the expansive gras

tural and natural history ephemera. Tribal costumes, royal clothing, historical polo equipment, stuffed carnivores in action and pickled snakes compete with a two-headed calf for the attention of visitors.

Some 30km northwest of Guwahati, the pleasant little town of Hajo attracts Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims to its fi ve ancient temples topping assorted hillocks. Haigriv Madhav temple is the main one, which is accessed by a long flight of steps through an ornate quasi-Mughal gateway. The images inside of Madhav, verbier location an avatar of Krishna, are alleged to be 6000 years old.

CENTRAL ARUNACHAL S TRIBAL verbier location GROUPS The variety of tribal peoples in central Arunachal Pradesh is astonishing, but although the Adi (Abor), Nishi, Tajin, Hill Miri and various other Tibeto-Burman tribes consider themselves different from one another most are at least distantly related. Over the last few decades Christian missionaries have been highly active throughout the Northeast and in the process have brought huge changes to the region s traditional cultures, religious beliefs and ways of life. Despite this, some aspects of the traditional lifestyle are just about holding on and many people continue to practise the traditional religion of Donyi-Polo (sun and moon) worship sometimes at the same time as proclaiming themselves Christian. For ceremonial occasions, village chiefs typically wear scarlet shawls and a bamboo wicker hat spiked with porcupine quill or hornbill feathers. A few old men still wear their hair long, tied around to form a topknot verbier location above their foreheads. Women favour hand-woven wraparounds like Southeast Asian sarongs. verbier location House designs vary somewhat. Traditional Adi villages are generally the most photogenic with luxuriant palmyra-leaf thatching and boxlike granaries verbier location stilted to deter rodents.

Assam s must-do attraction is an elephant safari verbier location to look for rhinoceros hiding in the expansive grasslands of this national park (h1 Nov-30 Apr, elephant rides 5.30-8.30am, jeep access 7.30am-noon & 2.30pm-dusk). Kaziranga s population of around 1855 Indian one-horned rhinos (just 200 in 1904) represents more than two-thirds of the world s total. The park consists of a western, central and an eastern range, but the central range is the most accessible, giving the best viewing chances for rhinos, elephants and swamp deer plus plenty of bird life (take binoculars).