Port Blair is the capital of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. This string of more than 300 almost virgin islands lies quietly in the Andaman Sea, east of the Bay of Bengal, hardly touched by modern …
Assam
Assam is an incredibly beautiful state with a diverse range of cultures and landscapes. It shares its borders in the North and East with the Kingdom of Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh. Along its southern region are Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram. Meghalaya lies to her South-West, Bengal and Bangladesh to her West.
Guwahati is the capital of Assam, strikingly located on the banks of the Brahmaputra river. Of its many mysterious temples, Kamakhya and Navagraha overlook the river, while Umananda sits marooned on an island crag.
Assam’s magnificent Kaziranga National Park, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, is the home of the Indian one-horned rhinoceros. You can take jeep or an elephant safari into the park to spot the famous one-horned rhino and a wide array of other animals and birds.
Nameri National Park is much smaller than Kaziranga, but offers a very different landscape. Unlike Kaziranga’s vast open grasslands, Nameri is comprised of deciduous forests which are home to clouded leopards, Indian bison and the rare white-winged wood duck.
Jorhat is a tea hub in the upper Assam region, with many tea estates surrounding this town. The Gymkhana Club, which was once the centre of social evenings and sports in the days of the British, is still active.
Jorhat is a good place to stay if you wish to visit Majuli, the largest river island in the world. The island, a World Heritage Site in the Brahmaputra river, is known for its rural setting, monastic retreats and traditional tribal architecture.
Dibrugarh district, in eastern Assam, is the highest producer of tea in the state, surrounded by tea estates. It is not unusual to come across green expanse of tea gardens even in the middle of the city!
Just north of Dibrugarh is Digboi, a beautiful and famous oil-town. At the spot of Asia’s very first oil well, is now a quaint oil museum. Since there was a prominent presence of British oil personnel, many of their distinct styled bungalows still remain.
{IMPORTANT} Entry permits aren’t required for Indians or foreigners.
