Tribal villages of Arunachal Pradesh

Kaho

Meyor (Zakhring)

India's easternmost inhabited village, a tiny Meyor settlement on the Lohit river a few kilometres from the border.

Anini

Idu Mishmi

The Idu Mishmi heartland at the head of the Dibang valley — India's least densely populated district, and one of its most intact temperate forest landscapes.

Altitude 1968 m

Pasighat

Adi (Padam, Minyong)

Arunachal's oldest town, where the Siang enters the plains — the gateway to Adi villages, river rafting and the Siang valley road north.

Mebo

Adi (Padam)

A Padam Adi village belt on the east bank of the Siang — paddy flats, cane bridges and one of the most accessible Adi cultural stops from Pasighat.

Sille-Oyan

Adi (Minyong)

Twin Minyong Adi villages north of Pasighat on the Siang valley road — orange groves, riverside camps and an easy first village stop out of the plains.

Basar

Galo

Galo country's community-tourism showcase — headquarters of Leparada district and home of the Basar Confluence eco-cultural festival.

Darka

Galo

A Galo village in the Basar bowl — terraced fields, community-run homestays and the village side of the Basar Confluence festival.

Wakka

Wancho

One of the largest Wancho villages in Longding district and the headquarters of its own administrative circle — chief's morung, hilltop houses and Oriah at its most traditional.

Longding Village

Wancho

The Wancho village beside Longding town — the easiest first stop for travellers entering the Wancho hills.

Hong

Apatani

The largest of the Apatani villages in Ziro valley — bamboo-and-cane houses, wet-rice-with-fish terraces and the last generation of tattooed Apatani elders.

Altitude 1500 m

Hija

Apatani

Held in Apatani tradition to be the oldest village in Ziro valley, and the quietest place to see lapang platforms and bamboo house architecture.

Altitude 1500 m

Chongkham

Tai Khamti

A Tai Khamti Buddhist village in the Namsai plains, with gilded viharas, Theravada monastic life and the Sangken water festival in April.

Namsai

Tai Khamti, Singpho

The Tai Khamti Buddhist heartland in the plains of eastern Arunachal — the Golden Pagoda, monastery villages and Sangken water festival.

Mechuka

Memba, Ramo, Libo, Tagin

A high Buddhist valley on the Yargyap Chu near the Line of Actual Control, centred on the Memba community and the old Samten Yongcha monastery.

Altitude 1900 m

Komsing

Adi (Minyong)

The Minyong Adi village above the Siang where the 1911 killing of Noel Williamson triggered the Abor Expedition — history, a memorial stone and a deep river gorge.

Borduria

Nocte

A historic Nocte chief's village near Khonsa — one of the oldest documented chiefdoms of the Patkai foothills.

Namsang

Nocte

The second of Tirap's great Nocte chiefdoms — a ridge village with a long history of trade and treaty with the Assam plains.

Khonsa

Nocte

Tirap's headquarters and the base village for the whole Nocte country — market, permits, transport and the road to Borduria and Longding.

Laju

Nocte, Tutsa

Southern Tirap's Nocte and Tutsa circle on the Patkai foothills — chief's houses, log drums and some of the least-visited village clusters in Arunachal.

Damro

Adi (Padam)

An Adi village on the Yamne river known for one of the longest traditional hanging cane-and-bamboo bridges in Arunachal Pradesh.

Daporijo

Tagin, Galo, Hill Miri

The Tagin heartland town on the Subansiri river — base for the villages of Upper Subansiri and the road between Ziro and Aalo.

Thembang

Monpa

A fortified Monpa village behind stone ramparts and two gateways, and the seat of a community-conserved area running up to snow leopard habitat.

Altitude 2300 m

Sangti

Monpa

A Monpa farming valley outside Dirang, known as a wintering ground for black-necked cranes and for kiwi and apple orchards along the river.

Altitude 1500 m

Kabu

Galo

A Galo village on the outskirts of Aalo, best known for the cane-and-bamboo hanging bridge across the river below it.