Further & Beyond Blog

After the Himalayan odyssey in the north I headed to the north east and as usual there was no plan of what I was going to do there, to help with a the direction I thought of going to the eastern most part of the Arunachal Pradesh and then move west bound. Time was always with me from the start of the journey. I called up Rajiv and asked him to meet me in eastern Arunachal to attempt 157 kms on foot to reach the last village in Eastern India.

The Namdapha project:

My story of Arunachal had begun in February last year where a bunch of us (friends) had set on an epic road trip of 16000kms in 45 days across India and Bhutan. Stillwell road was a part of that trip up till the Burma border. A detour to Miao introduced us to the Namdapha wild life sanctuary. We were immediately told that we will not be able to reach the forest guest house with the cars due to landslides and hence we marched on foot towards Deban 25kms.

As we walked we encountered human traffic coming from the opposite direction with heavy loads on their backs which had utensils and handcrafted baskets. Curiosity lead us to find out that they have been walking for 4 days and are heading to Miao to purchase Salt and sugar. This was intriguing in itself given the landscape we were witnessing. The only means of transportation to where they come from was a weekly Pawan hans helicopter services with only 17 seats to be taken however, most of them people preferred to walk through one of the most treacherous terrains in eastern India. Hence it was decided that we need to experience the remoteness of their lives.

Six months later …..

While I was riding from Himachal to Arunachal, few of my friends were heading to Kaziranga which was our meeting point. After a quick jeep safari in the rhino land we rushed to get the Inner line permit at Mohanbari……  The idea was to take the 20 min helicopter service to Vijaynagar and walk back 6 days to Miao which is about 157km through the Namdapha wild life sanctuary. But the tables turned when we learnt that the helicopter service was cancelled for maintenance for that entire month although the booking for the flight was done well ahead.

After a quick huddle Rajiv, Alpheus and I decided to take on the massive expedition which now had become tentatively a 300km trek. This also meant that we had to buy and carry more ration and more men to share the load. We reached Miao late that night and put up at the IB, next morning we shopped for ration, sought our forest permission to trek through the Namdapha sanctuary, spoke to ADC for our provisional permits to extend out stay in case we get stuck and porters to help us with the extra weight. Though we have trekked and camped in the jungle earlier, none of us had embarked on such a long distance on foot in an unknown territory.

The first day itself the terrain put us to test, as we were entering the trail the rains welcomed us to the jungle, every step from here onwards had to be a certain step and along with that you had to save yourself from the thorny shrubs, at times the only way to move forward was to get down on your four’s. Within the first 2 hours of the journey It had become clear that we would not be able to make it in 6 days which we had estimated earlier, Namdapha had taken us by surprise and we were already thinking if we would be able to complete the trek. At a point it got so strenuous that we stopped thinking and just kep moving like a zombie with backpacks. Up down up down up down was the order of the day. That night all of us ate and slept without uttering a word.

The next 6 days we woke up, packed our tents, cooked food, ate and started walking, we tuned ourselves to keep walking even if it rains and to pitch the tents by 2.30 in the noon. The format was to eat, walk, eat and sleep. Every stretch was a test of endurance, from the ups and downs of the mountain range to longs walks on slippery boulders by the river, from crossing single bamboo bridges to pushing yourself ahead through knee deep thick slush for miles together. There was a time we were walking thru elephant grass twice our size for more than 2 hours. The whole journey It was like an obstacle course and the moment you thought you mastered to walk on slippery stones, the jungle presented you with a higher difficulty level and this time a cliff with a drop in the high current river and the only support you have are the roots of the trees that come out of the soil. Once you have crossed that huddle you will find yourself walking on a fallen tree used as a bridge.

The Nights in the forest has been particularly beautiful with the milky way above and the fire below.

As you realize how small a creature you are in this gigantic forest it began to treat us with goodies, we met a few people from the local tribe who were building bamboo and cane bridges for commute they also provided us with fresh cat fish caught from the dehing river, we also got to taste a particular insect collected from under the stones by the river for a tribal Chutney’. There are a couple of villages on the way within the namdapha boundary which act as a resting place for the local tribes while they are commuting to and fro, while we were in these villages we stayed with the tribal elders who are very hospitable, one can also buy fruits and vegetables grown by these tribes for you journey ahead.

The seventh day we reached Gandhigram, the second last village in eastern Arunachal, This is primarily home of the Lisu tribe with about 400 household, Here there is only one phone booth which is connected over satellite. The market is primarily a display of farm produces from individual houses, one can by vegetables, meat, eggs, fruits etc. Salt is priced at 100/- sugar and oil at 200/-. There is no visible help from the government, no medical facilities, no proper schools and no financial aid from the govt. Though they are citizens of India they are still fighting for their rights and ST status. Hardworking, skillful earn some money with their cane baskets and farm excesses. The only outsiders the tribes have seen are the soldiers from the Assam rifle regiment and a few members from the wild life fraternity.

The last bit of the journey was four hour trek to Vijanagar the last point in eastern India, there is an air strip to transport military goods and civilians (if the pawan hans service is active). Beyond this point surrounded by 3 sides is Burma and it still takes about 4 days to reach beyond the borders. We stayed in Vijaynager for 2 days and visited few families and a local musician who played us a tribal tune from a locally made flute called ‘Juley’. The night temperature in vijaynager went to 2 degrees; one could see a thin white layer of frost on the ground in the morning just before the sun rise.

This was it. The task was completed; we had walked to the remotest village in eastern India, experienced their route, lived in the jungle and understood why they do what they do. And in the end one word could sum it up “Respect’. During the return journey we tried to match the pace with the Tribe and made it back to the forest guest house in Deban in 5 days.

Though distant from modern amenities, these tribes are very proficient in their use of bamboo and wood. From bridges, to homes, rice pounding machines, to water run rice mills. In Awe of the people and the culture here Rajiv and I have planned another visit during the end of the year, this time we would spend about 3 months in the jungle with these tribes and document their local engineering.

In the end we covered a distance of about 240kms in 15 days.

Back in civilization my friends headed back to Bangalore and I stayed on with the Lisu tribe in Miao to understand more about their culture making new friends and understanding the socio-culture aspects of the tribes in eastern Arunachal.