STILLNESS

(Majuli in Assam)


SUNSET

(Majuli)

TREK TO MESMERIZING 'DARIA HILL WATERFALL'

The Journey Begins......!!!

My friends Heymu, Anu and I had an awesome trekking experience during our one-day trip to ‘Daria Hill Waterfall’ on Tuesday (29th July 2015). This incredible and amazingly beautiful Waterfall is located on the outskirts of the Itanagar city.Cascading down from the top of the gorge to the mystic deep green pool below, this natural waterfall is about 15-20 feet high and 6-7 feet wide; surrounded by dense forests and rocks. Though unknown to many, gradually this waterfall is gaining popularity among the youths.

[View of Daria Hill Waterfall]

We had planned this trekking expedition long back but due to one or other reason we could not make it until 29th July 2015. As decided day before, we packed up our stuffs and gears and embarked early morning in my car and reached to the spot from where we had to trek.  

[Friends forever]

Missing route.....

It was a bright sunny morning and the view along the trek was really captivating and all of us were so excited. However, our excitement was short lived because after reaching to a particular place our guide-cum-companion, Heymu, got confused about the route. He told us that we took a wrong route. For a moment I was so pissed that I wanted to punch him as we already walked so long and we were hell tired!!!

Since he was the only one who knew the route by virtue of being visited there already, we couldn't do anything but to follow his instructions. 

The waterfall is about forty to sixty minutes trek from Itanagar city but it was taking more than two hours and still we were following a trail along a small rivulet. The rivulet was full of huge boulders and logs probably due to recent floods.    

[Daria River]

Finding our way back...

Though we were not sure about the route, we thought of finding the way out because we could not give up so easily!!

We constantly followed the rivulet hoping to find the waterfall. But instead we eventually reached to a dead end only to realized that we cannot trek further. By then we were sure that we made a terrible mistake and there is no point going beyond that spot. 

In order to find the route, Heymu  scaled some of the small mountains alone and even got his shorts damaged on the way. Infact, we almost covered half of the mighty Daria mountain. 

Leaving with no options, we decided to turn back and started descending from the same rivulet. As we were so exhausted that we thought of giving up and going back to home, but that didn't happen. Luckily, we encountered three young ladies who were going to the field. They were kind enough and agreed to lead us to the way. 

They informed us that we took the wrong route from the beginning itself as there are two routes one leading to waterfall and other to the fields.

[Another stunning view of Daria Hill Waterfall]

The sigh of relief..

As suggested by those ladies we again followed the same rivulet, but this time downstream. Can we really not make the same mistake twice? NO!! We did make the mistake again..this time it was me who was leading. As we proceeded, we saw a trek route leading to the mountain side. 

[Rivulet]

Without giving a second thought we took that route immediately and started ascending again. While going up we noticed some strange things. We noticed  many pairs of slippers were scattered along the route. We thought some trekkers might have already went to the waterfall.As we were moving step by step towards our destination, we heard some noise coming from our back. A little boy and a middle aged woman were coming from behind. 

[Rare and exotic butterfly]

Before we could say anything, the woman asked where were we heading to...three of us said, 'Waterfall' in chorus. To our utter dismay ,she told us that we took the wrong route again. It was so disheartening...But then she said we are now close to the waterfall. She suggested us to keep going down till we see a pipeline and follow the same to reach there! 

 [A colorful dragon fly]

This time it did not take us much to reach that pipeline....And the funniest part is as we got close to the pipeline, Heymu screamed, ..!!yes this is the right way!!...I didn't say a word...:p From there it was just a few minutes walk and we finally made it to the waterfall! Our tiredness melt away on seeing the stunning beauty of nature's wonder.

[Pool of green water below the waterfall]

It is worth mentioning here that though Anu had some difficulty during the long trekking to to the mountain through that rivulet, yet she didn't give up and made it to the waterfall with us. The trek was supposed to be the simplest one but...Literally,we started at 5 am in the morning for a 60 minutes trek but it took us almost 3 and half hours to reach at ‘Daria Hill Waterfall’ :):D  

x

Adventure@Mechukha Festival

Adventure@Mechukha Festival-2014

Organized by the Department of Tourism, Government of Arunachal Pradesh in collaboration with Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Adventure@Mechukha Festival is one of the exciting festivals in Arunachal Pradesh. If you are looking for the adrenaline rush and trip amidst the snowcapped mountains and hills of Arunachal Pradesh then Adventure@Mechukha Festival is the ideal place for you.

Paragliding

Time of Celebration of Adventure@Mechukha Festival

The Adventure@Mechukha Festival is held in the month of November from 7 to 9 and it's just been two years since this event started. Arranged by Department of Tourism, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, the Adventure@Mechukha Festival in Mechukha draws a number of international tourists as well people from all over India.

River rafting 

Description of Adventure@Mechukha Festival

A number of adventure sports enthusiasts come from all over India to Mechukha for the Adventure@Mechukha Festival in Mechukha. The Adventure@Mechukha Festival is held mostly in the periphery of Mechukha town. Situated along the Indo-China border, Mechukha, headquarters (at 6,000 ft) of Mechukha Sub-Disvison, is a picturesque valley overlooking the high Himalaya 35km from the Indo-Tibetan border in West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh.

Mechukha is now being pushed by the tourism authorities as the next big destination in the Northeast. On these hilly regions of Mechukha, the Adventure@Mechukha Festival is held.

In the year 2013, in the month of November the Adventure@Mechukha Festival was organized for the first time at Mechukha town. As adventure sport is slowly gaining popularity in across the country, the Adventure@Mechukha Festival attracts a good number of adventure tourists to Mechukha from across the state as well as country during this time of the year.

The entire  town gets colourful with different adventure activities taking place at the same time and you can feel that spirit of excitement and adrenaline rush participating in the adventure activities.

Other attractions during the festival is colourful cultural evenings!

Winter

 Thick fog completely covered the Mechukha town

Mesmerizing view of hills and mountains 

Pine groves in Tongkorla

Popularly known as Hanuman rock (depiction of an ape face shape rock)..one of the tourist attraction spots in Mechukha

Snow-capped mountains near Indo-Tibetan border

THE INFORMATION

Getting there

Mechukha, headquarters (at 6,000ft) of Mechukha Sub-Disvison, is a picturesque valley overlooking the high Himalaya 35km from the Indo-Tibetan border in West Siang district. Mechukha is now being pushed by the tourism authorities as the next big destination in the Northeast.

 Ø  Via Dibrugarh airport or railway station: Hire a car or take a shared taxi from Dibrugarh to Aalo (432km), district headquarters of West Siang. This is an all-day journey and will involve loading the vehicle on a ferry across the Brahmaputra. After an overnight halt at Aalo, hire a car/take a shared taxi to Mechukha (182km).

 Ø  Via Guwahati airport or railway station: Take the Pawan Hans chopper to Itanagar (Naharlagun). Then hire a car/take a shared taxi from Itanagar to Aalo (321km), and thence to Mechukha.

Where to stay:

Homestays and smalls hotels are available besides govt run tourist lodge and circuit house.

Homestays:

Gayboo’s Traditional Lodge

(9402996667). 

Almost Heritage 

(9436672849).

Tariffs range from Rs 800-2,000 for doubles.

What to see & do:

Trekking, River Rafting, Angling and visit to the 400 years old monastery perched on a hillock. Day hikes to Dorjeeling and other nearby villages and 2-day hike thro ugh pine forests and river banks leads to the Pasang Sonam Tso Lake.

More information is available from the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Aalo (03783-222221), the office of the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mechukha (9436421544), the Circle Officer at Mechukha (9436258555), and arunachaltourism.org.