Tawang Trek

Day - I, Tezpur to Bomdila

Meet the guide at Tezpur. Drive north to Bhalukpong across the plains towards the Arunachal Pradesh border. Although you pass through flat farmland, the rural scenery is interesting with people working in the fields wearing huge cane hats. After crossing a pretty gorge you reach a fantastic prehistoric landscape covered in stunted trees choked by vines and creepers. The road becomes a little hair-raising characterized by one hairpin bend after another. It takes an hour to do the last 37 km to reach Bomdila - the headquarters of the West Kameng District. It has a tourist lodge, a craft center, apple orchards and one or two Buddhist monasteries. The top of the ridge above the town offers good views of the mountains to the north. Overnight stay is arranged at the hotel.

Day - II, Bomdila to Thembang

Drive to Thembang ( 2.5 hrs / 45 km, last 20 km gravel dirt road ): After a quick look around the shops for supplies, we drive to the top of the ridge from where you can see the Thembang on the other side of a huge valley. The road zigzags down to an iron bridge with a drop in altitude of over a thousand meters, and then turns up a steep road to Thembang ( 7,027 ft / 2,142 m ). It's worth making the short walk up the hill to visit the Buddhist gompa, which is in a rather dilapidated condition, but has some large new chortens to one side, which 'vibrate' at times of the full moon. The monastery is Yellow Hat or Gelugpa and apparently contains precious relics from Lhasa. The village sits on a sort of knoll with the gompa on the hill behind and offers good views all around. Afternoon orientation and acclimatization trek around the village. Here you may interact with the village folks and meet the headman and his wife. Overnight in Inspection Bungalow .

Day - III, Thembang to Pangma

Leaving Thembang, one walks on a wide path contouring the hillside through a forest of Himalayan Oak, Pine and Rhododendron. After half an hour we reach a small farm, enter dense forest and emerge after an hour at Dhing Nongbo ( 6,726 ft / 2,050 m), a large white-painted stone building. Originally it contained a large prayer wheel run by water, which is now a little overgrown with shrubbery and broken. It was built to ward off an evil spirit residing in the forest which devoured passers-by. A few yards from here a faint path turns left up the hill. Climb ( for 500 ft / 152 m ) to arrive at a timber-made school ( 6,903 ft / 2,104 m ) for the village of Ghunthung, which lies below. It is worth detouring for five minutes to see the three-tiered chorten ( stupa ) on top of a small hill built to contain an older chorten inside. It is about 1.5 hrs to this point from Themgang. A level walk past several Maney walls and chortens brings you to the large attractive village of Pangma built on a much flatter part of the hillside. In the evening witness the Monpa cultural program by the village folks by the campfire. Camp overnight.

Day - IV, Pangma to Lagam via Semank

You wake up to the sight of smoke rising from the roof of the houses in the early morning light. An hour's walk gets you to Semnak ( 6,535 ft / 1,992 m ), where houses are half-stone, half-timber and have giant wooden phalluses hanging from the corners of the eaves. This practice of hanging wooden phallic symbols originates with Drukpa Kunley's teachings, a renowned Tibetan/Bhutanese saint known as the Divine Madman. The style of construction is similar to the villages of Merak and Sakteng in eastern Bhutan. From Semnak a half an hour downhill walk past fields brings you to a stream followed by a hard climb of 800m to the village of Lagam. First the path climbs through huge areas of cane and bamboo with the river to your right. Two slow hours bring you to a small clearing and a large tree with a lot of upright sticks and prayer flags attached. This is a pleasant place to rest and is called Phancharsa ( 7,005 ft / 2,135 m). Now begins the weary haul through moss-laden hardwood forest. Finally you rise to see the pretty village of Lagam with its striking white and orange gompa housing a large upright statue of 'Jambay'. There are a couple of attractive Tibetan amulet boxes and a very old looking manuscript, supposedly written on bark. You have lovely views over forested foothills and the valleys in between. Camp overnight.

Day - V, Lagam to Chander

Chander ( 9,603 ft / 2,927 m ) is around 4-5 hours from Lagam. After breakfast we climb ( about 1,000 ft / 300 m through forest. A few lucky visitors have reportedly seen the highly endangered red panda here. An unused jeep road makes for a very pleasant walk, contouring the steep mountainside, often with massive drops to one side and then descends gradually. After an hour, we sight the village of Chander, which still looks a long way off, strung out along the top of a ridge. We finally leave the road and start to climb. On a clear day, Chander offers great views of snowy peaks to the north like Mount Kangto, Gorichen, Chomo, etc. There is a very basic shop, lodge and teahouse worth stopping by for a cup of tea and some much deserved rest. The headman's son of the village, incidentally, has trekked into the high mountain areas next to the Tibetan border and takes his herd of yaks up there in the summer. In the evening interactive get together with the village folks who are mostly yak herders. Camp overnight .

Day - VI, Chander to Namshu

After breakfast, we will follow the road curving around the ridge for a short while until it starts to descend in earnest. After the first hairpin we take a path to the right. To begin with, this traverses high above the valley below with big drops, until it heads down through the forest. After about two hours, we come to a wide, open pasture and a Mani wall. From here it is only another half an hour trek to the large village of Namshu. The path looks down on the rooftops, very often covered with eye-watering red chilies drying in the sun. We now skirt round to the right and climb through some trees and fields to a large and beautiful monastery ( 6,863 ft / 2,092 m ). The key to the monastery is kept in a farmhouse nearby and, instead of going into the obvious ground floor door, you will be taken up to the first floor temple. You may be surprised to find only the head and upper body of Chamba - Buddha of the Future. The feet and lower body are on the ground floor. The setting of the monastery is absolutely beautiful. In the evening interact with the village folks and camp overnight near the monastery.

Day - VII, Namshu to Dirang via Sangti

Leaving the first monastery behind, the track traverses across fields to another monastery around the corner. Built in a 3-tiered architectural style and flanked on either side by identical chortens, the Gompa is quite unusual and equally impressive. The ground floor has a giant prayer wheel, driven by a stream, which issues out underneath the temple. The key is kept in the same farmhouse and probably children will show you around the temple, which contains a fine statue of Shakyamuni Buddha. In both monasteries the main murals are of Tsong Khapa, the founder of the Yellow Hat Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Chenrizig, the Buddha of Compassion and Mahakala are the other deities. Now the hard part of the day will start - the climb over the forested mountainside to the next village. The path angles its way diagonally across the densely forested hillside, passing a ruined house. After 45 minutes we arrive at a large white chorten, Mani wall and small chorten ( at 7,493 ft / 2,284 m ). From here you climb again till the path levels out after another 45 minutes ( 8,474 ft / 2,583 m ) and rounds the mountain, past some cleared forest and drops down to Khalebok village ( 7,260 ft / 2,213 m ), which is about 1.5 hours on from the top of the climb up the forested hillside. This village is stepped up a hillside and very dirty. The people here are very shy and may not want photographs taken; One should definitely check first. From up here we can see row upon row of foothill mountain ridges, marching into the distance. Way down below ( 2,600 ft / 800 m ) is the flat valley bottom with a river winding along and we can see the upper part of Sangti village. The tiring downward descent now begins to the flat valley floor, with a patchwork of fields and fed by a river from Tibet. We will cross a sturdy suspension bridge to the lower Sangti village ( 5,315 ft / 1,620 m), which has a road coming up from Dirang. It has a couple of small shops and feels like relative civilizations. The vehicle will be here to meet us before the 10 km drive to Dirang Dzong (seat of former Tibetan Administrators). Overnight stay at the Hotel.

Day - VIII, Dirang to Mukto via Sela Pass

We leave early and crawl up the innumerable hairpin bends to reach the pass. This part of the drive is likely to take an hour and a half or so. At the top there is a colourful arch and some buildings where we stop for tea. Views of the big peaks to the north are fantastic, but it is pretty cold on top of Sela Pass ( 13,714 ft / 4,180 m ). We hurry down through a barren mountain landscape. There is a large lake below the pass and ( at 10,672 ft / 3,253 m) we reach the memorial and grave to an Indian soldier who was the hero of the fight against the Chinese, who invaded Arunachal Pradesh in 1962. Legends about the spirit abound, of how he still moves around his belongings. The local army contingent still prepares meals and his bed at night for him. They confirm that he often eats the food and disturbs the bedclothes. The road eventually comes out into the top of a huge valley. Villages are scattered on the other side and Tawang, although still not in sight, is further on down the valley. The road now plunges down through a town via serpentine hairpin bends to the river at the bottom. However, we turn off to the right and begin a trek of about 3 km to Mukto ( 7,874 ft / 2,400 m ) through scattered villages from where we can see on the other side of the valley. Tawang gompa is clearly visible across the valley and snow capped peaks can be seen over the river to the right. Overnight is either at the camp or the Inspection Bungalow.

Day - IX, Mukto to Kipi

The start is a descent of about 600 m down to a river to reach the pleasant village of Chakdjam, followed by a 500 m climb to Kipi ( 7,464 ft / 2,275 m ), with time to relax in the afternoon. The people of this area are Monpas and wear beautiful costumes. The men have either yak hair coats dyed red or jerkins made of the skins of animals turned inside out. The women also wear very colourful costumes with necklaces made out of turquoise, jade and amber. Both men and women wear strange yak hair hats. In this part of the trek we pass through villages that few westerners have visited before.

Day - X, Kipi to Tawang

It is a half hour gentle descent to a river with a rock painting of Chamba, the future Buddha. The village of Sehru on the main road is reached in less than 2 hours where tea is available. The trek continues up to a ridge, passing by a small gompa, stopping for lunch with a distant view of Tawang gompa. It's still a walk of a few kilometers to the sprawling town of Tawang.

Day - XI, visit Tawang Monastery

We drive 15-20 minutes up to the monastery, which has 350 monks, 200 of whom are boys, all hailing from Tawang district. The main temple has a three storey high-seated statue of Sakya muni (Buddha). We will also be shown around a fine museum, which contains fascinating relics like the articles used by the 6th Dalai Lama, a pot reckoned to be 1,200 years old, thangkas, statues, old guns, an ancient cannon and a fine collection of vessels and jugs in silver and gold. The monastery and all its sub temples and cells for the monks rival many of the large gompas found in Tibet and Bhutan.

Day - XII, Tawang to Bomdila

After an early breakfast we depart on the drive back to Bomdila, enroute visiting Jang Water Fall and drive over the Sela Pass again, 2.5 hrs, ( we would require warm clothes as this area can get quite cold ). Stop perhaps at Sange, 1.5 hrs, and on to Dirang 1.25 hrs before arriving at Bomdila in 1.5 hrs. Evening free to explore the local market. Overnight at Hotel.

Day - XIII, Bomdila to Tezpur

Early morning start, drive to Tezpur and arrive at Adabarrie Tea Bungalow at Balipara. Full day at leisure or free for optional activities.

Day - XIV, Around Adabarrie tea estate

Full day exploration of Nameri followed by a stay at Wild Mahseer Camp [ Addabarie Tea Estate ]. This is a 62 years old planter's bungalow owned by George Williamson Ltd but now under a new management and has recently been thrown open to visitors. The tea estate is known as Addabarrie Tea Estate. And lies 25 km north of Tezpur. The Nameri National Park is 18 km away on a good road. The lodge has seven double rooms in 3 bungalows. It is a Heritage property.

Day - XV, End of trip

Time to say good bye!

What is included in the cost?

Meals : All meals (vegetarian only) during the expedition

Accommodation : All accommodation during the trek, be it guest house, home stay or camping

Guide: A qualified and professional English speaking expedition guide and support staff.

Equipment: All trekking equipment such as tents (sharing on a 2/3 people per tent), crampons, sleeping bags, mattresses, cooking utensils and crockery, mules or porters for luggage if required.

Fees: This includes all park entrance fees and trekking permits

First aid: A first aid medical kit, stretcher and oxygen cylinder

Transport: Transport only from Kathgodam to Loharjung and back

What is excluded from the cost?

Personal expenses

Food costs before or after the start of trek

Insurances like, but not limited to, medical and travel insurance

Mules or porters to carry personal luggage. Please note that each member of the trip is expected to carry his/her own luggage. If a porter or a mule is desired, the customer will have to inform us prior to booking the trip and pay for the extra costs

Anything which is not specifically mentioned as being included in the cost