Kohima and Khonoma

• Kohima
• 1,440 m
• 75 km · 2.5–3 hrs
• Dinner

We meet you at Dimapur Airport; keep your Nagaland ILP ready, since Dimapur is inside the permit area and checks happen at the airport and on the road. The highway climbs from the plains through the Chumoukedima foothills, with the air cooling noticeably above 1,000 m. Check in to your Kohima hotel by early afternoon. At about 4 pm we walk the Kohima War Cemetery on Garrison Hill, where terraces of headstones mark the Allied soldiers who fought the Japanese advance here in April 1944. The tennis court where the lines stood a few metres apart is marked in white. In the evening try a local thali with smoked pork or a simpler rice and vegetable meal at the hotel.

• Kohima
• 1,440 m
• 40 km in total · 2 hrs
• Breakfast, Dinner

Start at the Nagaland State Museum, which lays out dress, jewellery, weapons and log drums from each of the major Naga tribes and is the best one-hour introduction you can get. Then drive up to Aradura hill to see the Mary Help of Christians Cathedral, built in the 1990s with a large carved wooden crucifix. After lunch we head 12 km south to Kisama Heritage Village. Outside festival season it is almost empty, which means you can walk into each morung, see the carved posts and hearths closely and talk to the caretakers. Stop at Kigwema village next door, where the Japanese headquarters sat briefly in 1944. Back in Kohima, the market near the main road is busy until about 6 pm.

• Khonoma
• 1,500 m
• 20 km · 45 mins
• Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

The road to Khonoma winds west past Jotsoma and drops into a valley of stepped rice terraces fed by stone channels. Your homestay family greets you with tea, and after lunch a village guide leads a two-hour walk: the old stone gateways, the khels or clan quarters, the memorial to the 1879 battle with British forces and the sitting circles where elders still meet. The walk ends at a viewpoint over the terraces, which are green from June to September and golden-brown after the October harvest. In the evening you sit by the kitchen hearth while dinner cooks, usually rice, local greens, chutney with king chilli and pork or chicken. Rooms are simple, with hot water in buckets.

• Khonoma
• 1,500 m
• About 30 km return · 2.5 hrs on a rough road
• Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After breakfast we take the narrow road beyond Khonoma to Dzuleke, a small Angami village of a few dozen households set beside a clear, fast stream. The village has kept its forest intact and runs its own simple ecotourism cottages, so you will see more birds and fewer vehicles than anywhere else on this trip. Walk the stream path with a local guide, stop at the stone pools where children swim in summer, and have a lunch of rice, stream fish or pork and fresh greens at a village home. We head back to Khonoma by 4 pm. If you prefer to stay put, spend the day on longer forest walks from Khonoma instead.

• Departure
• 150 m
• 95 km · 3.5 hrs
• Breakfast

After breakfast say goodbye to your hosts; many families will pack a bottle of local tea or dried chilli if you ask. We drive back through Jotsoma to Kohima and then down the highway to Dimapur, which takes about 3.5 hours in total. Leave by 8 am for a flight before 2 pm. On the way, a stop at a roadside stall in Piphema or Medziphema gives you a last chance to buy pineapple, oranges in winter, or bamboo crafts. For late flights we can visit the Kachari ruins in Dimapur, carved sandstone pillars from the Dimasa Kachari kingdom. The driver drops you at the airport at least two hours before departure.