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Hornbill Festival And The Last Headhunters of Nagaland

Hornbill Festival And Living With The Headhunters

The Hornbill Festival 2019, the festival of festivals as it is also known, is the biggest tribal cultural festival of North East India and India. And just like last year and the year before that, we are again heading to Nagaland this winters. In the laps of the blue mountains of North East India, to drown in the rich and colorful Naga way of life. If age-old ways of life, tribal traditions, and food and celebrations is your thing, you cannot afford to miss the Hornbill Festival this year.

Hornbill Festival 2019 Tour Dates, Itinerary and Details

Our Hornbill Festival Nagaland 2019 trip that we run is not limited to just the Hornbill Festival. Our Hornbill Festival tour has always seen this colorful festival as an opportunity to show our guests what lies beyond the obvious, when in Nagaland. So, once on this trip, you will experience much more of Nagaland that other hornbill festival 2019 packages are covering. Just to give you an idea, after spending a significant number of days at the Hornbill Festival 2019 in and around the Kisama Heritage Village, we visit various Naga tribal villages, each belonging to a different Naga tribe and with a different way of life. And towards the end of the trip, we do the most exciting thing about this tour in Nagaland. We drive across bumpy roads to reach the last Indian village, a village that is split between India and Myanmar. There, we meet the last surviving headhunters and interact with them, listen to their stories and live with them.


Nagaland Hornbill Festival 2019 Dates and Hornbill Festival Tickets

1st December 2019 To 10th December 2019
The Hornbill Festival Ticket price is included in your Hornbill festival package cost. The tickets will be handed to you by our trip leader at the festival venue.

Hornbill Festival 2019 Tour Dates

30th November To 9th December 2019

Itinerary of Hornbill Festival 2019 Group Tour

30th November 2019 – Saturday – Guwahati To Kohima

Meet and greet with North East Explorers representative in Guwahati and start our journey for Kohima, the capital of Nagaland. Drive through the plains and tea-gardens of Assam to finally reach the beautiful capital city of Kohima, spread across multiple hills. Rest and relax after the long journey.

1st December – Sunday – Kohima – Hornbill Festival Ground – Kohima

Attend the colorful opening ceremony of the Hornbill Festival at the Kisama Heritage Village festival grounds. Go click-crazy!

2nd December – Monday – Kohima – Hornbill Festival Ground – Kohima

Head to the Kisama Heritage Village festival ground and enjoy the festivities of the Hornbill Festival. Gawk at the jaw-dropping performances and enactments of the tribal ways of life of the Nagas of the yesteryears and stuff yourself with delicious Naga food till you can take no more. In the evening, visit the iconic Kohima cathedral and enjoy the view of the city from there.

3rd December – Tuesday – Kohima – Khonoma – Kohima

Before heading to the historic village of Khonoma, also known as Asia’s first green village, we visit the World War II cemetery, in the heart of Kohima. The cemetery is one of the most historically significant and grim reminders of the war that was fought in these parts of the world. Later, we visit to take a guided tour of the beautiful Khonoma village and get to know about the local way of life there. We can go on writing about how pretty Khonoma is but we will still fail to give you a clear picture, so we will say this. Khonoma will be by far the most lovely village you would have ever seen.

4th December – Wednesday – Kohima To Mokokchung

Today we head deeper into Nagaland and drive all the way up to the beautiful town of Mokokchung. Perched atop a pack of hills, the beauty of Mokokchung has to be seen to be believed. The villages around Mokokchung are home to numerous myths, stories, and bravery.

sunsets Longwa village Nagland

5th December – Thursday – Mokokchung – Guided tour to Naga villages – Mokokchung

Today we explore a couple of Naga villages, Ungma, and Mokochung village. Our local guide shares stories about the cultures and life in these villages as you slowly walk through the narrow lanes of these villages with colorful villages.

6th December – Friday – Mokokchung – Lungwa
As if Mokokchung was not deep enough, today we head to one of the remotest parts of Nagaland, to Lungwa village in Mon district. This is head-hunter territory. Don’t be surprised if there is no electricity here, nobody cares about it anyway. Here, it’s all about having a good time and you too will know all about it once there 😉

7th December – Saturday – Longwa Local Tour

Today, we meet the last surviving headhunters and talk to them, through our local guides. See their tattooed faces tell us how they used to chop off the heads of their enemies and bring them back to their villages where festivities awaited them. Later in the day, we will go visit the Angh (King) of the Konyak Nagas whose palace is divided between two countries! One half in India while the other half is in Myanmar. And while you sit and sip some piping hot tea with him, remember, only he is allowed to sit on the Myanmar side of the house. We take a walk up to the border – pillar that separates India from Myanmar before heading back to our Naga homestay.

8th December – Sunday – Longwa To Jorhat

Today we start our return journey back to the plains of Assam. We reach Jorhat late in the afternoon and make good use of whatever sunlight is left by visiting the historic sites of the Ahom kingdom.

9th December – Monday – Jorhat To Guwahati

Start our drive back to Guwahati in the morning. Take photo-breaks as you wish and reach Guwahati before evening and say your good-byes. Fly-back home with memories of a lifetime.

Inclusions

  • All travel starting from Guwahati and back to Guwahati.
  • All accommodation on a shared basis.
  • Breakfast.
  • All permits as required.
  • Entry fee for the Hornbill Festival venue on all days.
  • Local guide fees as required.
  • Tolls and parking charges.

Exclusions

  • Lunch, dinner, snacks.
  • Any personal expenses.
  • Anything that is not mentioned above.
  • 5% GST.
  • Prices are subject to change without prior notice, based upon the costing of variables of the trip logistics.

Photos of Hornbill Festival 2018

Must-Know things before going to Hornbill Festival

While we will try our best to have all the facilities we can manage, please be informed that given the geographical location of the place, the facilities will be clean but basic for the most part of the trip. But then again, the trade-off is well worth the experiences. After all, where’s the adventure if everything is just perfect!

Hornbill Festival Group Trip – Refunds and Cancellations

Hornbill festival being an internationally acclaimed festival, the bookings have to be confirmed months in advance by paying our logistic partners which is non-refundable. Which means, in case of any cancellation on the guests’ part, there is no refund.

In case we cancel the trip for any unavoidable reason, we will refund 100% of the payment made to us.

We will not be liable to pay any expenses the guest might have incurred (train tickets, flight tickets, etc.) to reach the starting point of the trip, Guwahati Railway station in this case.

Good To Know

Because everything for Hornbill Festival gets book well in advance, the availability is on the first-come-first-serve basis. We have only 10 seats this year. So, if you wish to join us for this festival of festivals and much more, book your Hornbill Festival 2019 ticket soon before they are gone.
In case you are looking forward to exploring some more of North East while you are here, we would be glad to assist you with the same. In fact, we have a trip to the Sangai Festival in Imphal right before the Hornbill Festival and we have trips to Majuli, Kaziranga, and Meghalaya after Hornbill festival which you can club as per your liking.

Want to Know More?
Even after reading all the details above, you might still have some questions in your mind. Worry not! Please feel free to get in touch via the contact box on the right (below if you are on a mobile device) side of this page or via our contact us page. We will get back to you at the earliest, with all the answers.

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TripAdvisor Reviews

star rating  We were a big family of twelve people from Bangalore.
We went to Assam, Arunachal Predesh, and Nagaland for 14 nights.
Our visit included monasteries in Tawang district of Arunachal... read more

avatar thumb B B
March 6, 2024

star rating  We wanted to travel to NorthEast and were looking for local tour operator since they would have good knowledge and plan our itinerary better. We were lucky to find NorthEastExplorer,... read more

avatar thumb Abhay
January 2, 2024

star rating  Amazing NorthEast with NorthEastExplorer. - We wanted to travel to NorthEast and were looking for local tour operator since they would have good knowledge and plan our itinerary better. We were lucky to find NorthEastExplorer,... read more

avatar thumb abhay10
January 2, 2024

star rating  Awesome Meghalaya and Kaziranga Trip - We just returned from an Amazing 8 day tour of Meghalaya and Kaziranga with North East Explorers.
We covered Shillong, Cherrapunji, Shnogpedeng, Jowai in Meghalaya. Had a great experience with... read more

avatar thumb Escape95634
December 19, 2023

star rating  We just returned from an Amazing 8 day tour of Meghalaya and Kaziranga with North East Explorers.
We covered Shillong, Cherrapunji, Shnogpedeng, Jowai in Meghalaya. Had a great experience with... read more

avatar thumb Ahmedabad Hermit
December 18, 2023

star rating  me and my five friends just returned from a three week tour of assam, arunachal pradesh and nagaland. from Italy I contacted Rajiv of North East Explorer who booked... read more

avatar thumb Aneleh8
December 17, 2023

star rating  We recently embarked on a 7-day tour to North East, covering Kaziranga and Meghalaya, with North East Explorers. The booking process was seamless, and Rajiv, who assisted us, was exceptionally... read more

avatar thumb ChandrakalaShetty
December 10, 2023

star rating  We recently embarked on a 7-day tour to North East, covering Kaziranga and Meghalaya, with North East Explorers. The booking process was seamless, and Rajiv, who assisted us, was exceptionally... read more

avatar thumb Chandrakala Shetty
December 9, 2023

star rating  Miles, Smiles, Pride & Stride - We chose to cover Assam and Arunachal Pradesh and we were delighted to see so many places..guwahati, kamakhya, Kaziranga in Assam.
We were in Dirang, Tawang... read more

avatar thumb 498jaganathans
November 19, 2023

star rating  We chose to cover Assam and Arunachal Pradesh and we were delighted to see so many places..guwahati, kamakhya, Kaziranga in Assam.
We were in Dirang, Tawang... read more

avatar thumb Jaganathan S
November 19, 2023

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