Tribal Life In North East India

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"Memories Of A Challenging Expedition..."

Gerard ‘Gerry’ Privilege from Perth and myself, met face to face in Bagdogra in West Bengal on the 21st of September after a lengthy correspondence, planning and making our acquaintance. An hour later we were riding north to Darjeeling, a difficult steep, twisting hill-road, too late in the afternoon. Cutting his teeth on a very steep hairpin road, across slippery rail tracks at every bend, Gerry made it to the top, in the dark, unscathed.

From Darjeeling our route took us south east through Assam, across rivers with no bridges, on small wooden boats. We rode deep into Meghalaya’s west, south and east Garo hills; zig-zagging in and out of Bangladesh - a broken bridge some way back; stopping at night at places we’d reached, in small hotels, local guest houses and old, neglected Forest Rest Houses. Sharing our options with men in a tea shop, they warned, “Sir don’t sleep in the jungle, elephants roam wild and tribal militants have guns.” The village police post ominously called the “Police Insurgency Post”.

Then came Cherrapungee - that well known 'Wet Place' and it's deep green jungle gorges, spanned by 'Living Root Bridges'. Then north again and a chance meeting with my agent on a washed out highway, direction Bomdila in West Kameng, Arunachal – a coincidence of the kind only possible on a magical journey, quick change of route and Whiskey and Water beside the powerful Kameng river.

We rode east through Arunachal, with forays due north to Taliya and Menchuka; a stone’s throw from the China border. Menchuka’s airfield opened that day after a period of bad weather was host to a stream of Indian Airforce planes bringing supplies. “Do we look Chinese?”, locals asked us; men whose sisters had married Chinese.

Jungle roads to our easternmost point - Gerry’s riding skills at once, challenged and honed, and a night stop in Pasighat, a town with a ‘Frontier Feel’. It’s infrastructure uncared for since the ‘Britishers’ left and an early morning ride, 30kms back to the Brahmaputra. A pebbly beach, a steep narrow plank and once again we were loaded on board en-route to Dibrugarh. A snaking 6 hour boat ride, collecting milk from sand-bank bound buffalo farmers; fish curry for lunch. So big the river, at times it felt like we were at sea.

Then came Nagaland. Once the domain of Tribal Head-hunters - now devout Christians, long ago converted. At the border the Assamese Policeman’s warning, “You’re entering Nagaland! You’re leaving Assam!” "Ji danyavad, I understand." Still 50 Kms to go we crossed the border an hour before sunset.

A short run across plains, then into the hills. We stopped to change glasses, the sun now gone, Gerry commented, “It feels like the badlands...”, as bare backed tribals, shots guns across shoulders, sheathed swords at their sides walked past, eyeing us cautiously.

The road to Mon was steep and rocky; stand on the pegs, lock the bars straight. Powerful lights were not an option, the bikes slipping sliding; complete concentration.

By the Burma border we communed with Kings in their bamboo long-houses, head of a Mithun Ox - a gift to the Angh, slow cooked in banana leaves on embers in a large open kitchen. In a smokey side room, old men thin on opium were served tea by a wife. A bamboo church, like a huge round ballroom, the hill top filling with 6,000 youths for a Christian Convention; scenes from Lungwa, far away in another world.

Hill roads, oil wells, rice paddies and rivers, Mokokchung, Kohima and down to Guwahati; back to The River, we were on our way home.

Two days later, tired and dirty, we were back in the mainstream, back in Bagdogra. A clean bed and bathroom for a well deserved rest. We’d ridden the distance and faced the challenge.

4,000kms.
28 days.
5 north eastern states – West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal and Nagaland.
Roads, tracks, no-road and passage by river.
An accelerator cable broke in a hot place and a clutch cable in town.
We had no punctures.
21/09/2011 to 18/10/2011.

In October 2012 FreeSPirit will be exploring more of Nagaland, Manipur and the far east of Arunachal. This expeditions are for Riders experienced in off-road riding.

More pictures of this Expedition at: http://www.freespiritadventure.com/tour-photos.html

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Collecting milk as we steamed down the Brahmaputra.