One of India’s most vibrant and colorful festivals celebrated in Nagaland is the Hornbill Festival Nagaland. The festival is often known as the festival of festivals because of its gracious nature. The festival is celebrated every year from 1st to 10th December. The Nagaland government has taken up all the leads to organise it every year. This Hornbill festival is a way and a means by which the government promotes Nagaland tourism and tribal culture. The festival is held in the Kisama Heritage Village of Kohima District and is spread across several events throughout the 7 days festival. The festival each year connects a lot of tourist and has also helped to a great extent in improving the conditions of Nagaland.
Nagaland is home to several tribes, each with its distinct uniqueness and culture. Each tribe has their own vibrant festival and through this event, each tribe of Nagaland gets a platform to showcase their own culture. Each tribe considers their festival as sacred so it is of great importance for them to participate. Other than that, there are also several other stalls that sell or focus on selling and displaying their traditional food, attire and many more.
You can only reach Hornbill Festival Nagaland through Kohima and Kisama Village Road.
Hornbill is a festival that is celebrated in Nagaland to enrich the tribes and culture of the place. It is often celebrated from 1st December to 10th December each year.
Although there are a lot of things to do at the Hornbill festival, the journey to the celebration isn’t always cheerful and rosy! The area is based on Kisama Heritage Village, at least 18kms away from main Kohima. However both these places can only be accessed through road. The closest airport to Kohima is in Dimapur, almost 3-4 hours away is you drive.
The transportation system in Nagaland is pretty average and the buses aren’t very prepared for long delays on the road. From the main city of Kohima, you can easily catch a taxi but as it is the festive season, you might get the hiked up rates of the taxis.
Experience Hornbill Festival With Team Oddessemania
Prepare yourself for delays as Kohima will be very crowded.
Kohima is a small city in Nagaland and each year during this season the place gets all the charm because of the annual hornbill festival.
Horbill festival, the biggest festive event in the calendar each year makes the city a bit crowded and difficult to handle the number of tourists visiting and people attending. You may get delays and traffic getting to the festival and in and around Kohima. If driving, be careful and be patient.
Book hotel rooms and guest houses early on!
If you are planning to book a place at the last minute, you might get all messed. Tourists and other visitors book places in advance because of the very famous festival. Cancellations are not really obvious, because who would miss an opportunity to celebrate the hornbill festival?
However you can also go for the camp sites that are set up around the area of the festival. These are not only cheap but also are available.
If you are camping, get your equipments.
Some of the camp sites will just rent you a camp and no other things. So it is always advisable to bring your own equipments. You can carry roll mat, a sleeping bag, travel pillow, an extra blanket if you do not want to pay extra. You also should carry few warm clothes as the weather gets freezing.
You need to pay a small charge for cameras and videos each day.
If you are staying around Kisama in Kigwema, you need not pay anything for the festival but if you ar3 heading from Kohima, you need to pay a least amount for entry and cameras.
Carry warm clothes
You cannot even imagine how cold the festival gets each day. The weather turns out to be freezing, so bring your warm clothes with you. The area is an open ground so there is no space to get warm from the chill.
Interact with the tribes of Nagaland
The festival is nested over the celebration and education of the beautiful agricultural state of Nagaland. Each of the tribe has there own uniqueness, cuisine, tribal dress and many more. Learn and talk with each one of them.
Carry your own booze or enjoy the local rice beer.
You can enjoy the local rice beer which stands perfect with the celebration. Nagaland follows a ban on alcohol so you won’t find any of them in the place. If you are heading towards the festival ground at night, grab some drinks with the locals around the campfire set up outside the Morung’s.
Visit in the morning for the best lighting and warmth.
Heading to the ground of festival, during the day time brings life to the festival as the sunlight makes everything shine. Along with the fact that it is bright and warm. The blue hues will keep you all mesmerized. The evening or night will make all of the celebration at the peak.
If you are a solo female traveller, you are all safe.
Nagaland is an absolutely safe place additionally, Hornbill festival Nagaland is safer. You can enjoy the beauty without having to worry about your safety. Do everything to wish to do to make this experience all of it worth.
Book your return tickets in advance.
Yes, you enjoyed the fest and it is time to reach home back? Well you might get a few issues if you don’t take the necessary precautions at the earliest. You might not find tickets because of the crowd. Therefore, it is always advisable to go book your tickets before hand and take a taxi to reach back to Dimapur.
