Hornbill FestivalAssam wildlife to the Naga hills.

Day by day

The unfolding.

1. Day 01

   Guwahati → Kaziranga

   You are met at Guwahati airport by our representative and driven about five hours east along the south bank of the Brahmaputra into the tea country of upper Assam. By late afternoon you arrive at a quiet boutique lodge on the edge of Kaziranga National Park. Settle in, walk the gardens, and meet your naturalist over an early dinner of Assamese thalis as he briefs you on the next day's safaris.

2. Day 02

   Kaziranga — Central & Western ranges

   Two private 4x4 jeep safaris with your naturalist. Pre-dawn departure for the Central (Kohora) range — the classic Kaziranga of elephant grass, beels and the greatest density of one-horned rhino on earth, with wild buffalo, swamp deer and a strong chance of tiger pugmarks at the watering holes. Return to the lodge for a late breakfast and rest through the heat. Afternoon safari in the Western (Bagori) range, the best evening light range, finishing at the watch-tower overlooking a herd of rhino as the sun drops behind the Karbi hills.

3. Day 03

   Kaziranga → Majuli island

   A relaxed morning drive (about four hours) east to Nimati Ghat outside Jorhat, where you board the public ferry across the Brahmaputra to Majuli — the world's largest inhabited river island and the cradle of Assam's Neo-Vaishnavite movement. You are met on the far bank and driven to a simple, characterful island lodge of bamboo cottages on stilts. Sunset over the wetlands and an early dinner of Mishing tribal food.

4. Day 04

   Majuli — satras, masks and Mishing villages

   A full day exploring the island at island pace. Morning visits to Uttar Kamalabari and Auniati satras, monastic centres founded in the 16th century by the saint-reformer Sankardeva, where you watch the young celibate monks (bhakats) rehearse sattriya dance and devotional chanting. Continue to Shamaguri satra to meet the master mask-makers who still craft the giant bamboo and clay masks used in bhaona theatre. Lunch at the lodge. Afternoon in a Mishing tribal village — stilt houses, handlooms on the verandah and a glass of apong rice beer with the host family.

5. Day 05

   Majuli → Jorhat tea bungalow

   Morning ferry back across the Brahmaputra and a short transfer into Jorhat, the historic capital of Assam's tea industry. Check into a working planter's bungalow set inside an estate of clipped tea bushes and rain trees, with colonial verandahs, mali-tended gardens and butlers who have served three generations of the family. Afternoon walk through the estate with the planter, a visit to the factory in season, and a sundowner of single-estate tea on the lawn.

6. Day 06

   Jorhat → Kohima

   A long but scenic drive (about seven hours) climbing slowly out of the Brahmaputra plains and into the Naga hills via Dimapur. Picnic lunch en route at Garampani's hot springs in the Dhansiri reserve forest. The road winds steeply up to Kohima, the Naga state capital at 1,500 metres. Check into your hotel, an early evening orientation walk through the bazaar, and an early night — the festival starts before dawn.

7. Day 07

   Hornbill Festival — Kisama

   A full day at Kisama Heritage Village, the festival ground twelve kilometres outside Kohima where all seventeen recognised Naga tribes build their own traditional morungs (dormitories) along a hillside. With your guide you move from morung to morung — the Konyak with their facial tattoos and brass-skull necklaces, the Ao, Sumi, Lotha, Chakhesang, Pochury, Phom, Khiamniungan — sharing rice beer, smoked pork and red-chilli chutney as each tribe takes the central arena for war dances, log-drum performances and folk songs. Afternoon: the indigenous games arena (Naga wrestling, greasy bamboo climbing, chilli-eating contest) and the night market for Naga shawls and beadwork.

8. Day 08

   Khonoma village → Hornbill closing

   Morning drive twenty kilometres west to Khonoma — Asia's first declared green village, ancestral seat of the Angami Naga and the site of their final stand against the British in 1879. A village walk with a local Angami guide takes you through stone-paved lanes, the Khwüno tree, the three khel forts and the community forest where the Blyth's tragopan has been hunting-banned for two decades. Traditional Angami lunch in a family home. Return to Kisama in the afternoon for the closing ceremony — massed dances of all tribes together, the Hornbill International Rock Contest finale, and bonfires after dark.

9. Day 09

   Kohima → Dimapur · Departure

   Morning at the Commonwealth War Cemetery (the famous Kohima Epitaph — 'When you go home, tell them of us…') and the Nagaland State Museum if time allows. A scenic three-hour descent to Dimapur airport for your onward flight.