Assam - River Cruise - Shillong Detailed ItineraryPrint this page


Assam - North East India

Private trip dates as requested..


Day 1 Dibrugarh:
On arrival in Dibrugarh, a typical colonial town and major American base in WWII, you will be met and transferred to the Mancotta Chang Bungalow. The drive is approximately 30 minutes. Rest of the day at leisure, or one can take walk in the tea estate surrounding the bungalow.

Note: If the tea processing is on, we can visit the factory on this day after lunch at the property. Usually the harvesting season starts from mid March, after the first rains. However, if we have early rains we might see the tea factory in operation.
Overnight Mancotta Chang Bungalow.

Day 2 Namphake village:
After breakfast we will drive 75 km / 2½ hrs to visit the 150 year old village of Namphake populated by the Tai Phake tribe. Situated close to the River Dihing, a tributary of the mighty Brahmaputra, the beautiful village is home to about 70 families. This Buddhist tribe traces their ancestry to the Tai race. The dialect spoken by the villagers is similar to the language in Thailand. The villagers still follow the traditional customs and dress code of the great Tai race that entered Assam in the latter half of the 18th century. This village is also home to one of the oldest and most respected Buddhist Monasteries in Assam.
Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand famously visited the Namphake village in the month of March 2009 and was amazed to find how a small group of Tai Phake community was successful in preserving the rich culture, customs, traditions, rituals and language of their ancient land despite living amidst diverse ethnic and linguistic population.

We will spend the entire day at this village interacting with the villagers, taking a walk within the village and experiencing their traditional way of life. We will also have a traditional lunch at this village. Before dusk back to the bungalow in Dibrugarh for dinner.
Overnight Mancotta Chang Bungalow.

Day 3 Assam Navigation 10 night river trip:
After breakfast you will be met and then driven 2 hrs to Dikhou Mukh and embark
on The Charaidew. (Dependent on river conditions it may be necessary to board at
Neamati, closer to Jorhat). Board Charaidew - Assam Navigation.

Day 4 Sibsagar:
Excursion by road to Sibsagar, the one-time capital of the Ahom kings of Assam.
Shan by origin (Assam and Siam share the same derivation) but converted to
Hinduism, they ruled Assam for some 700 years until the 1820s, and their culture
and architecture is a strange and delightful amalgam of Indian and S.E. Asian. See temples with stupa-like profiles, and palaces of distinctive form - note the
crocodiles and rather sexy caryatids that adorn the roof of the Rang Mahal. For
the record book, the temple tank here is claimed to be the world's largest handexcavated reservoir. Return to the ship for lunch and cruise for 3 hours down river to Majuli Island, supposedly the world's largest river island. Overnight Charaidew.

Day 5 Majuli Island:
Majuli Island possesses unique Hindu monasteries famous for their dance drama
performances - the whole island is now short listed for future UNESCO World
Heritage status. You will visit Auniati monastery with an eclectic museum, enjoy a typical Mising tribal lunch in a stilted bamboo hut and in the afternoon will attend a dance performance at Kamalabari monastery. Returning to the ship we cruise downstream for an hour or two.

Day 6 Jamuguri Village:
A day spent mostly on the river, though we shall stop and make a short visit to the tribal village of Jamuguri. By afternoon, Kaziranga National Park will be on our left - wild elephants are sometimes visible from the boat, and once, memorably, a tiger.

Day 7 Vishnath, Kaziranga National Park:
This morning you will arrive at the little temple town of Vishnath, with a fine
Ahom-period temple. Take a walk ashore before continuing the voyage down to a
delightful mooring at Silghat, with butterflies abounding in the surrounding jungle.

We disembark for our first safari through Kaziranga National Park, taking a jeep
ride through its Western Range, with good woodland as well as grassland and
wetlands, which can be viewed, from lookout towers.

Day 8 Kaziranga National Park:
Disembark pre-dawn and drive to Kaziranga's Central Range for an early morning
elephant ride, the best way to get really close to the rhino. Kaziranga is a World Heritage site, and with a population of over 1000 rhinoceros is the best place in the world to see these beasts. There are also good populations of tiger, wild elephant, sambar, swamp deer, hog deer, wild pig and many other species. After breakfast, walk through terraced tea gardens and visit a village of the Mising tribe. In the afternoon drive to Kaziranga's little-visited Eastern Range or the newly opened Burapahar Range for a further jeep safari before returning to the boat.

Day 9 Tezpur:
Cruise downstream under the seemingly endless new bridge to dock at Tezpur.
After lunch on board, we visit the remains of the 6th century Da Parbatia temple, with exquisite carved portal, then board cycle rickshaws to take us through the bazaars to Cole Park with its collection of medieval stone carving. Reboarding our ship we cruise down to moor for the night near the isolated Singri Hill.

Day 10 Ganesh Pahar:
The day is spent on the river, traversing a lunar landscape of sand islands then
closing on the range of hills beyond which lies Guwahati. In the evening we should reach the idyllic isolated village of Ganesh Pahar.

Day 11 Aswaklanta Temple:
This morning's voyage is particularly pretty, with jungle-covered hills on the south bank. Reaching Guwahati at midday, we moor opposite the city and climb up to the pretty Aswaklanta temple on the hill above before driving out to the beautifully sited temple ruins of Madan Kamdev, their erotic carving an indicator of the strong tantric traditions in the area.

Day 12 Sualkuchi:
We cross to the main waterfront for a tour of Guwahati, driving up Nilachal Hill to the Kamakhya temple. With its tantric rites and animal sacrifices, the more
squeamish may prefer to content themselves with the exterior. Visit the poignant
Commonwealth War Graves, the museum and the bazaars before cruising down
during lunch to the silkweaving village of Sualkuchi. In the afternoon drive out to Hajo, a place sacred to Hindus, Moslems and Buddhists. Visit a Moslem shrine with extensive hilltop views over the surrounding rural landscape, as well as the simple Hindu temple with its frieze of elephants and its sacred tank full of great carp, catfish and turtles.

Day 13 Disembark - on to Shillong:
Disembark from cruise vessel after breakfast at Guwahati. On our way out of
Guwahati we will visit the Tea Auction Centre where experts will explain the
intricate auctioning system. After our visit you will drive to Ri Kynjai Resort on Umiam Lake, near Shillong about 2½ hrs drive away.

On arrival check in, proceed to your room to freshen before we have lunch.
After lunch we will drive to Shillong (40 minutes) for a local sightseeing trip
including the historic All Saints Church, Shillong Golf Club and the Archery ground (closed on Sunday). Back to the resort just after dark.
Dinner and overnight at the Ri Kynjai Resort.

Day 14 Cherrapunjee:
After an early breakfast at the resort we will leave for Cherrapunjee (locally also known as Sohra) the wettest place on earth. On the way we will visit the Elephant falls, Musmai caves (difficult to negotiate the winding pathway inside the cave) and once in Cherrapunjee we will visit the Nohkalikai Falls. Besides the places mentioned we will stop at several other places to enjoy the scenic views of the area. Check into the Cherra Resort in time for lunch.

After lunch we will go for a scenic walk in the nearby areas. Evening is free time at leisure. Dinner and overnight at the Cherra Resort.

Day 15 Mawlynnong Village and Shillong Peak:
After breakfast we depart for Mawlynnong Village. We will visit the village,
interact with the locals and enjoy lunch at a local restaurant.

MAWLYNNONG, nestled in the pristine hill state of Meghalaya, is along the Indo-
Bangla border. This cute and colourful little village is known for its cleanliness. The village is a picture perfect painting and is situated about 75 kilometres from Shillong. The main occupation of the villagers is agriculture. They mostly grow betel nut. There are approximately 82 households in Mawlynnong. Keeping the surrounding environment clean is an age-old tradition. Discover India magazine declared the village as the cleanest in Asia in 2003, and
again in 2009.

A dustbin made out of bamboo is found all along the village. Every one makes it a point that dirt and waste are not thrown everywhere. All the waste from the
dustbin is collected and kept in a pit, which the villagers use as manure. The
villagers are now on a mission to ban plastic. The village with 90 per cent literacy is conscious and they are spreading the message of conservation and protection of the forest. Locals plant trees to ensure that the virgin forest is kept intact and also replenished.

After lunch we drive back towards Umiam Lake ( or Burrapani Lake) stopping at
Shillong Peak for a panoramic view of the hill station.
Return to Ri Kynjai Resort for dinner and overnight.

Day 16 Shillong Sightseeing:
Today after breakfast we will drive up to Shillong to visit the Burra Bazaar, one of the oldest and largest traditional markets in entire North East India. We will try and be at this market when they open for the day to experience the exciting buzz of the local people setting up their businesses for the day. The market is with lots of very narrow alleyways with people rushing about from shop to shop. We will also visit Don Bosco Heritage Museum and Ward's Lake before driving to a local restaurant for our lunch. After our lunch we can spend some time at the Police Bazaar, the nerve centre of Shillong. By dusk we will return to the Ri Kynjai Resort for dinner and overnight.

Day 17 return to Guwahati return home:
On our last day of this tour we can start our day early with tea/coffee and cookies and go for a pre-breakfast stroll to the nearby village and return to a sumptuous breakfast waiting for us. Afterwards we will drive back to Guwahati and proceed straight to the Airport for your flight to onward destination. The driving time will be about 3 hrs.


RV CHARAIDEW
The "Charaidew" is a 38m long twin-engine steel-hulled passenger boat. She was
converted by ABN in 2003 to provide 12 generous-sized twin-bedded cabins with
en-suite shower and W.C. All cabin accommodation is on the upper deck, as is a bar
and saloon opening onto a front deck. A dining room with full length opening glass
doors on each side is on the lower deck, while a large top sundeck offers additional
comfortable open-air seating in shade or sun. We have respected the fragile
environment of the River Brahmaputra and resisted the temptation to build a
larger ship. Our maximum group size of 24 is well-matched to the numbers of
riding elephants available in National Parks along the valley, while the need to use
jeeps to access the river beaches also limits group size. The result is an ideal
number for fostering a friendly house-party atmosphere on board.
All cabins and public rooms are air-conditioned. Food on board is a mixture of
Assamese (milder than most Indian cuisine) and continental. Wines, beer and
spirits are available.

Duration: 17 Days

Max Group Size: you decide

Accomodations: tea estate, small ship, lodge

Price: Private tour approx cost $4,800USD per person based on 2