Surrounded by verdant hills with music taking a center stage, attending Ziro Festival of Music is an ideal escape from the hullabaloo of the big cities. So far a lot of blog articles are available on the internet about the festival but not much has been written about a perfect itinerary for Ziro festival of Music. This blog is an initiative to guide you through the day to day itinerary to visit places near Ziro which will not only let you rejoice the festival but also to explore the best places in and around this spectacular Eastern Himalayan valley.
But at first, I suggest you learn about ‘How to plan an epic tour of Ziro festival of Music’ for a step by step preparation of your travel. Based upon personal experiences, it will help you plan your trip to Ziro Valley with ease. All the required information like acquiring permits to enter Arunachal Pradesh, modes of travelling and things to carry, etc are already mentioned in the blog.
I am a part of KITE MANJA, so I have referred only about our campsite to stay in this blog. But there are other options also available in Ziro for accommodation. Here is our guide to discover an absolutely amazing six days itinerary for Ziro Festival of Music to satisfy your wanderlust.
Six Days Itinerary for Ziro Festival of Music
Day 1 – Guwahati to Naharlagun
Your trip starts from Guwahati, the gateway to Northeast India. Reach the city by evening to board the overnight 15617/Guwahati – Naharlagun Donyi Polo Express Train from the Guwahati railway station at 9.20 pm. The train has no pantry car or onboard catering so make sure to have your dinner beforehand. Overnight in train.
You will be covering a distance of 332 km in about 7.30 hours to reach Naharlagun at early morning. Naharlagun is the nearest railway station to Ziro from where one can continue their onward journey to the valley. Keep in mind that you will have to book your berth a month prior to your travelling date to ensure a confirmed train ticket during the festival time.
Day 2 – Naharlagun to Ziro
You will be reaching Naharlagun railway station by 5 am and upon arrival get your permits checked at the exit gate. Your taxi will be waiting in the parking area if you have booked it with us in advance along with your camp stay and festival passes. The taxis ply on sharing basis and they usually carry nine to ten passengers in a single fleet.
The distance between Naharlagun to Ziro is 102 km and it takes about four hours to reach. The journey is a beautiful ascend through the pine hills with small picturesque villages enroute. The roads are bad at places and it also gets muddy when it rains but the sight of the breathtaking hilly landscape will not deter your spirits to reach Ziro. On your way, have breakfast at a place called Putin which located halfway between Naharlagun and Ziro.
When the hilly road will lead to a flat valley dotted with golden paddy fields on both sides, it means you have entered Ziro. You will have to cross Hapoli (the commercial hub of Ziro) to reach Biirii village where our campsite is located. Upon arrival, check-in at our tent and take some rest before you head towards the festival ground to watch the inauguration of the Ziro Festival of Music. The venue is just 20 minutes walk away from our camp.
To enter the venue you will have to first collect your festival wrist band from the box-office. The local volunteers will not let you enter the festival ground if you don’t wear the wrist band. The process is very simple; at the box office, you just need to furnish the unique code that you have received at the time of online purchase of the festival pass. The volunteer will tally the code with their list and they will hand over the festival wrist band to you.
Have lunch at the venue in any of the stalls at the food court and try the local rice beer called Apong. You can either come to the camp after watching `the inauguration ceremony followed by performances at the day stage or stay back for the evening session. After watching all the artists in both day and evening stages walk back to the campsite for dinner and after party by the bonfire. Sleep whenever you wish!
*if you book our transfer services then you will be travelling with other fellow campers. We carry a maximum of eight passengers in one sumo. While travelling in a cab, the entire luggage goes on the top carriage so it is better to carry a small backpack handy to keep valuable items with you while travelling. Avoid suitcase and trolley bags when you come camping!
Day 3 – Exploring Apatani Village & Festival
Today after breakfast at the campsite head towards the Hong village for an Apatani village walk. You will need a local guide to understand the culture and lifestyle of the Apatanis, one of the oldest tribes of Arunachal Pradesh.
The Apatanis are primarily into farming and lives in absolute harmony with Mother Nature while maintaining a balance with the modern world. Their unmatched sustainable farming and social forestry methods are very unique that has led Ziro Valley in the ‘tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites’. They do wet rice cultivation along with pisciculture and even use the elevated partitions to grow millet.
Hong village is Asia’s second largest village and visiting this place will give you a glimpse into Apatani lives and their village surroundings. The houses are made on vertical wooden stilts and you will find a Donyi-Polo flag in front and thick bamboo groove behind every household. Donyi-Polo is an indigenous religion of shamanic type which believes in the sun and the moon.
Your guide will take you inside a local household where the center of the house not only serves as a fireplace to sit and discuss but also as a kitchen where food is cooked. Sit around the fire and try traditional homemade rice beer with unique Apatani salt called Tapyo, made up of ashes of specific indigenous plants. Talk to the elders of the house and understand their culture and farming methods. You can also take photographs of the elderly Apatani women famous for their facial tattoos and big nose plugs.
While walking through the village you will observe that almost everything is made up of bamboo which makes this place an eco-friendly destination. After visiting the village you can straight go to the festival ground or come back to the campsite.
At evening watch the artist performances at the evening stage and join your fellow campers at the campsite after the festival. Have your dinner and enjoy the live music jamming in front of a cozy bonfire.
Day 4 – Visiting Tao Tiibi & Festival
Today you will visit a place called Tao Tiibi which is one of the best places in all of Ziro Valley. It is at a distance from the campsite so you will have to hire a cab to an extent before start trekking to reach this offbeat destination.
You can either book a cab for the whole day or go to the Hapoli taxi stand to arrange to and fro transfers from Tarin Fish farm (the starting point of the trek). Tarin Fish Farm is a high altitude fish farm located in Bulla village and it covers an area of 7.4 hectares.
From Tarin farms, an hour’s walk through the jungle will take you to Tao Tiibi. The remoteness of this trail makes it an exhilarating experience and the landscape is beyond any imagination. Tao Tiibi is home to Roto Pani family, the sole habitat of this place who has been living and farming here since 1968. Their farmland is surrounded by mountains on all side and it is now popularly known as Roto Pani Organic Farm. The owner of the farm Roto Pani has been conferred with a state award for ‘Best Farmer’ in 1991 for his sustainable farming practices.
Roto Pani and Roto Yamin, who are now in their 90’s are one of the oldest living couples in Ziro valley. A walk through their farmland will let you think about how they have cultivated the area without using any machines or farm animal. You will be astonished to see the systematic channels and canals for irrigation even in such a hilltop. If that is not enough for you then you can even get your hands dirty by stepping in their farm to help.
Come back before it gets dark to attend the festival in the evening. Later at night have a good dinner, join others at the bonfire and sleep in your tent when you feel tired.
Day 5 – Ziro Festival of Music
It is the final day of the Ziro Festival of Music, so enjoy all your time at the festival ground. Go to the venue after breakfast and watch all the performances at the day stage. Later come back to the campsite to rest or chill at the lobby before you return again to the festival ground for the final finale.
After bidding a farewell to the festival, join the epic after party at the campsite, ensure you have dinner on time and continue merrymaking.
Day 6 – Ziro to Guwahati
It is the last day in your itinerary for Ziro Festival of Music and it’s the time to go back home! After breakfast hop on in a pre-booked taxi to reach Naharlagun. You will reach Naharlagun railway station by late afternoon to board the Donyi Polo Express at 6.45 pm. Carry some fruits or other food items for dinner. End of services after dropping you at the railway station.
Camping in Ziro Festival of Music
Camping in Ziro Festival of Music is an experience of a lifetime. Meeting like-minded music and adventure lovers create a long-long lasting friendship in just four days. Camp KITE MANJA is the oldest and the happiest campsite in Ziro festival. It is surrounded by beautiful pine grooves and is located at Pyali Picnic spot in Biirii village.
We host around 150 festival campers every year and have all the required facilities available on site. Apart from camping with meals, we have different festival travel packages for our guest. Our most sought after deal is the Carefree Package where we arrange your pick and drop from Naharlagun railway station; take care of your permits to enter Arunachal Pradesh, Festival Pass along with camping and daily meals.
At our campsite, we have both permanent toilets and bathrooms separate for male and female. Water is available 24 hours and a dedicated team ensures 100% sanitary hygiene of the area. Our lobby is the most happening part of the campsite with a bonfire and live-jamming sessions happening almost every evening. Charging points are also available at this place and around 50 devices can be charged at a time. Electricity is available almost all the time and has power backup as well.
We give utmost priority to food and have a team of trained cooks to do the job. We serve buffet breakfast and dinner to our campers and have a different menu every day. Every morning our kitchen team source fresh vegetables and meat from the Hapoli market to serve both vegetarian and non-vegetarian delicacies. We also have a small conveyance shop and almost all petty things are available in the store.
For stay, two men dome tents, four men dome tents and alpine tents come with a sleeping mat and sleeping bag or blanket. We do not provide a pillow or any bed-cover and you are requested to bring torchlight or solar light for your own convenience. We also have a locker facility available to keep your valuables when you are out of the campsite. For anything else you can always come to the registration desk, our team member will be available all the time to assist you.
You can even bring your own tent but you can pitch only in the area which is left after pitching our tents. If you wish to extend your itinerary for Ziro Festival of Music by few more days then you can probably also consider Talley Valley or Mechuka in your list. Here is what you need to know about these two pristine destinations.
Suggestions – Extended Itinerary for Ziro Festival of Music
Talle Valley Trek Near Ziro
Talle Valley is a wildlife sanctuary and a bio-diversity hotspot situated at a distance of 32 km for Ziro. This 22 km uphill trek is a paradise for the trekkers with lush greenery, absolute solace, and gurgling sound of the ever-flowing streams.
Talle Valley trek can be done in maximum three days through the heart of the wildlife sanctuary. It is known for its exotic varieties of avian fauna and at the time of your trek, you will surely encounter some of the most amazing species of birds and butterflies. There are also four different species of wild cat found in the valley including the endangered Clouded Leopard.
A guide is mandatory and proper arrangements are required to set out on this trek. We have a team of local guides, porters and cook who can assist you in your trek. Contact us for more details!
Mechukha
Located 29 km away from the MacMohan Line and at a height of 6000 feet ASL, Mechuka is the Forbidden Valley of Arunachal Pradesh with snow-capped mountains, meadows and verdant pine forests. A visit to this untouched, unexplored Himalayan getaway will give you an opportunity to experience the great hospitality of the inhabiting Memba tribe and to explore some of the amazing trekking trails near the Sino-Indian border.
This place became accessible by road just a decade ago. Mechukha was one of the crucial strategic locations during the 1962 war against China. Travelling to this place from Ziro is an absolute treat for your eyes. Visit the old Buddhist monasteries of the Memba tribes and step your foot on the incredible local hanging bridges.
From Ziro, it will take two full days to travel to Mechukha by road via and an advance arrangement of your stay is very much essential. There are not many accommodation options available so it is best to live in a homestay in Mechuka.
You can drop us a mail at info@kitemanja.com to know more about the festival, campsite and other travel destinations. For any details about the weather condition, festival line up, travel partners and taxi bookings do not hesitate to contact us on Facebook or Instagram. If you are interested to follow our itinerary for Ziro Festival of Music than contact us to arrange the travel services. Also, share this blog to let your friends know about the Ziro festival itinerary. Looking forward to seeing you at Ziro Festival of Music!
