North-East India & Assam

Kaziranga is the draw and deserves to be: over 2,600 one-horned rhino in grassland that stands taller than a jeep, with swamp deer, wild buffalo and, if the light is kind, a tiger crossing a fire line. But the region rewards a longer loop. Majuli, the river island, keeps its satras — Vaishnavite monasteries where boys learn dance, and the mask-makers at Samaguri still work in bamboo and cow dung. In Meghalaya, the walk down to the double-decker root bridge at Nongriat is 3,000 steps each way, and worth every one. Roads are slow and permits take time in Nagaland and Arunachal, so we plan in weeks, not days.