Kolkata & The Northeast Tours & Holidays

Unlike much of India, large swaths of the north and northeast are still to make their way onto the mainstream tourist trail. At Wild Frontiers that's a red rag to a bull. Northeast India is waiting to be discovered, and we intend to explore it. Whilst the Ganges River plain, with such iconic destinations as Rishikesh, Lucknow, Varanasi and Khajuraho, are well-known to Western travellers, far away in the northeast corner of the Indian subcontinent, is a world removed from the main tourist trails. Here the lush Himalayan foothills teem with wildlife and flora that adapt and change with the geography and climate as they progress to the plains. Among the meandering bends of the mighty Brahmaputra, the forests and grasslands of the Kaziranga National Park break up the distant horizons of this enormous river valley where wild elephant and Asian rhino abound as nowhere else in the world. The traditional bamboo houses of the tribes of Arunachal are a stark contrast to beautifully restored colonial bungalows in the verdant and immaculate tea gardens of Assam. At Sibsagar the Ahom Dynasty made their ancient capital that now lies in peaceful ruins. More recently Allied forces were based at Dibrugarh and drove the Stilwell Road across Burma to Kunming. Many of their graves can be seen at Kohima. In this interesting part of the subcontinent also lie Sikkim and Darjeeling, where spectacular terraced paddy fields and rolling tea plantations cling to the undulating hillsides in the lee of the mighty Katchanjunga... the world’s third highest peak. Here the colonial past still lingers in the architecture much of which has been converted into fine heritage hotels. The gentle easy pace of the hills contrast starkly to the buzz and hubbub of the great Indian metropolis of Calcutta. And of course there is also the ubiquitous, wonderful mayhem and colour that are part of all India.