Explore Wilderness In Northeast

Nagaland alone has more than 15 tribes and is a cauldron of different cultural practices, art and craft.

The Shiyong village homestay in the northernmost part of Nagaland is one of the many in the region that one can explore to know about the Konyak tribe -- famed for the facial tattoos and headhunting.

As part of the tour package, one gets to live with a tribal family, participate in daily farm work, pluck tea leaves in the family-owned tea plantation or oranges and lemon when in season.

The village, which is situated 32 km from the district headquarters Mon, is well connected by road from Jorhat (147 km) and Dibrugarh (283 km) in Assam, which are in turn connected to Guwahati, Kolkata and Delhi by air and rail.

If getting close to wildlife fascinates you, then homestays by the North East Social Trust (NEST) in Assam is your answer.

"Our idea is that instead of living in a resort while visiting the Kaziranga National Park, why not stay with the local community on the fringes of the park? In any case, it's just early in the morning or evening that one is occupied in a safari and the rest of the day you don't have much to do in Kaziranga," NEST founder Arif Hussain said in an interview.