A treasure grove

It harbours the Scotland of the East'', is home to the endangered one-horn rhinoceros and is witness to a unique mass suicide by birds eve...

It harbours the “Scotland of the East”, is home to the endangered one-horn rhinoceros and is witness to a unique mass suicide by birds every year. But the North-East — comprising the seven states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura — is still the most unexplored area of India as far as tourism is concerned.

The raging insurgency in the region was for a long time responsible for this. But as the situation comes under control, the authorities are trying to sell the wonders of the North-East anew to tourists. And there is a lot to choose from, starting with Shillong, the Meghalaya capital which was once described as “the Scotland of the East” by the British because of its wonderful waterfalls, butterflies, churches and colourful people, who practise a multilineal system of society. Cherrapunji, a two-hour drive from Shillong, experiences the highest rainfall in the world. Then there is Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, replete with snow-clad valleys and Buddhistgompas, along the Indo-China border. The state, called the Land of the Rising Sun, also has Namdapha National Park, which has a renowned tiger reserve.

In Assam’s North Cachar Hills lies Jatinga, the place where birds of various kinds commit suicide in large numbers between August and November. Scientists are still struggling to unfold the mystery behind this mass death. Manas, the best tiger reserve in India, lies hardly five hours away from Guwahati. The capital itself — known as the temple city of the North-east — has Kamakhya Temple, the most ancient seat of Tantric studies. Another temple, Navagraha, is devoted to the nine planets.

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The Kaziranga wildlife sanctuary, which is home to the one-horned rhinoceros and several other endangered species, is not too far away either. Tourists can conduct a safari of the park, lasting three hours, on elephants.“The tourism potential of the North-eastern region is immense,” says Omak Apang, Union Minister of State for Tourism who is himself a member ofParliament from Arunachal Pradesh. He recently inaugurated an international orchid festival at Itanagar, capital of the state. He was in London last week inviting foreign investors to India and particularly to the North-East to set up tourism-related projects. One field in which he is trying to attract tourists is adventure sports. As he points out, eastern Himalayas remain a totally virgin territory in this regard. Despite having some of the most exclusive spots, this stretch of the Himalayas is also one of the most neglected. Even the domestic tourists have stayed away.

Lamenting this, Assam Tourism Minister Jagadish Bhuyan says: “Insurgency has stood in the way for a long time…But that is no longer an impediment. People are going to Kashmir despite disturbing conditions. They can come to Assam and the North-East too. The situation is fast improving.”

However, there is still no concerted effort to market the region’s tourism potential. There is no advertisement campaign in any media, with everystate putting the blame on fund crunch. As a result, a large number of domestic as well as foreign tourists remain uninformed about the natural beauty of the region. The Green Triangle, a tourist circuit comprising Guwahati, Shillong and Kaziranga planned by the Government of India’s tourism department, has remained only on paper.

Kaziranga, at least, still figures on the tourist map. The wildlife sanctuary gets around 50,000 tourists on an average every year, both domestic as well as foreign. This despite the fact that the park is open only from November to April end, after which monsoon begins in the region. This year, the opening of the park was delayed by 10 days due to a devastating flood. The Government had to release Rs 1 crore for its restoration, which may take a long time.

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Arunachal Pradesh has opened up Tawang, Bomdila as well as the Namdapha Tiger Reserve for tourists, with the added attraction of adventure tourism. Since last year, it has begun drawing a good number of visitors.The Governmentof India has helped by removing the Restricted Area Permit which applied to foreign tourists in the North-East. Under this provision, the entry of foreigners to the states here was restricted for security reasons. With the lifting of the provision, tourism to the region is expected to receive a big boost.

As insurgency gradually comes under control, visitors could also head for Manipur and Nagaland, which have some of the most interesting World War II memorials in the world. In fact, the road from Kohima, Nagaland’s capital, to Moirang in Manipur is itself a heritage site. Tombstones and signposts, virtually after every kilometre, tell tales of the different battles fought here and the fall of Army units during the war.

The war memorials of the two states have already been attracting tourists from Japan, the US, England and other countries whose soldiers had died here during the war. The Red Hill Memorial as well as the INA Memorial just outside Imphal are virtual pilgrimage sites for a large number ofpeople worldwide.

Infrastructurally, too, the scene has improved considerably, with luxury coaches linking every state capital as well as tourist spot to Guwahati, the nerve centre and gateway to the North-East. A number of hotels and tourist lodges have come up. Apang hopes all this will work, enough to make the North-east the tourist destination of India by 2000 AD.