Wangala Rhythmsthe hundred drums of Garo country.

Day by day

The unfolding.

1. Day 01

   Guwahati → Manas

   You are met at Guwahati airport and driven about four hours north-west to Manas National Park on the Bhutan border — a UNESCO World Heritage site of riverine grasslands, sal forests and the foothills of the Himalaya. Check into a forest lodge just outside the Bansbari gate. Bonfire briefing with your naturalist about Manas's rare recovery from the Bodo insurgency years and the species you may see — golden langur, hispid hare, pygmy hog, Bengal florican.

2. Day 02

   Manas — Boro villages & Bansbari range

   Morning guided walk through a Boro tribal village adjoining the park — bamboo houses, rice-beer brewing, eri silk weaving on bamboo looms in the courtyard. Traditional Boro lunch hosted by the village (rice, pork with bamboo shoot, jhalmuri). Afternoon jeep safari in the Bansbari range with a chance of wild elephant herds in the grasslands and capped langur in the canopy at the forest edge. Mathanguri viewpoint sundowner over the Manas river running down from Bhutan.

3. Day 03

   Manas → Bongaigaon · Sarthebari bell-metal

   Drive west (about five hours) with a long mid-morning halt at Sarthebari, the bell-metal capital of Assam, where you watch traditional craftsmen beat sheet brass into bell-metal bowls, lamps and the ceremonial sarai. Continue to Bongaigaon for a comfortable overnight.

4. Day 04

   Bongaigaon → Tura (Garo Hills)

   Drive south (about five hours) into Meghalaya's Garo Hills, with a tea stop at Rangsapara, judged Assam's cleanest village. Arrival in Tura, the principal town of West Garo Hills, in the late afternoon.

5. Day 05

   Selbalgrey village & Wangala — Hundred Drum Festival

   Morning at Selbalgrey, a beautifully preserved traditional Garo village of bamboo and thatch nokpante (bachelors' dormitories), with a side visit to the Nokrek Biosphere fringe and the gibbon reserve. Afternoon at the Wangala Festival ground at Asanang, near Rongram — Garo Hills' largest harvest celebration, where a hundred long drums (dama) are played in unison by groups of warriors in red turbans and feathered headgear, joined by women in striped dakmanda skirts in a swirling circle dance.

6. Day 06

   Garubada weavers & festival closing day

   Morning at Garubada, a weaving village where Garo women hand-loom the dakmanda and ganna textiles on backstrap looms in their verandahs. Afternoon back at the Wangala ground for the prize ceremonies and closing performances of the Hundred Drum.

7. Day 07

   Tura → Guwahati · Kulsi river dolphins

   Scenic drive (about six hours) back to Guwahati, with a late-afternoon country-boat ride on the Kulsi river at Kukurmara to look for the endangered Gangetic river dolphin in pods of two and three breaking the surface as the sun drops. Overnight Guwahati.

8. Day 08

   Departure

   Transfer to Guwahati airport for your onward flight, with a Kamakhya temple stop on the way out if your timings allow.