Jorhat & Majuli Island

Jorhat & Majuli Island

Day 1, JORHAT

Jorhat is Assam's second largest city after Guwahati. The actual city is like any other one in India, with chaotic traffic and colourful markets. However, just outside the city limits, the tea plantations take over.

In the afternoon you can make an excursion to Sivasagar, once the capital of the Ahom Kings who ruled the Brahmaputra valley for over 600 years. The ruins of the Ahom palaces, temples and pavilions still dot the landscape around Sivasagar and they present the richness of this highly evolved and advanced civilization.

Stay at the Thengal Manor

Day 2, TRAVEL TO MAJULI ISLAND

Today you travel from Jorhat to Nimatighat, a windswept sandbank about an hour's drive from Jorhat. From here you take a narrow, crowded ferry to cruise down the Brahmaputra to Majuli island, the largest river island in the world.

On arrival, you will be transfered by road to your hotel, passing enroute through both Assamese and Mishing Villages - the Mishing houses are typified by being built on stilts and their 'long house' style of design. Your resort is built in exactly the same style - simple bamboo cottages on stilts spread around a central open area.

In the afternoon you visit one of Majuli's satras, unique monasteries, established in the 15th century by a visionary reformer-philosopher, Shankardeva. The satras are rich depositories of traditional Assamese arts and crafts, and regularly stage dance dramas in praise of Vishnu. Watching one of the performances is a riveting experience.

Stay at Eco Camp ME: Po Okum (Happy House) for two nights.

Day 3, MAJULI ISLAND

A full day to gently contemplate mesmerising landscapes of rice fields, water meadows and fish traps, meet the local Mishing people and learn about Neo-Vaishnavite philosphy at one of Majuli's ancient satras.

Walk around the village or cycle to a nearby monastery. It is easy to forget that Majuli is an island, holding within it hills, vast open paddy fields, rivulets, dry sandy river beds and corpses of thick trees. An extra-ordinary large number of birds can be seen here, even just simply by driving or cycling around.

Day 4, ONWARDS FROM JORHAT

You leave Majuli early in the morning to catch a ferry back to Nimatighat. Cruising upstream is likely to take double the time, approximately 1 1/2 hours. You end your tour at Jorhat around noon.

Jorhat is connected to the rest of India by flight. Alternatively you can drive back to Guwahati or continue from Jorhat to explore Mokokchung & Mon in the hills of northern Nagaland.

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