ridgeview chalets 374 bird species have been recorded in the park, including such rarities as the whiterumped vulture

Sitting almost halfway between Kohima and Mon most people sensibly choose to break their journey in laidback Mokokchung. Aside from enjoying the town s spectacular setting, try to make time for a couple ridgeview chalets of other low-key attractions including the small, privately ridgeview chalets run Rendikala Subong Museum (Town Hall Rd; admission 10), which contains tribal items collected from surrounding villages as well as what is purported to be the world s smallest Bible. The museum is open whenever someone turns up to see it. A couple of kilometres away is pretty Ungma village, where you ll find a couple of huge log drums and a cloud scrapping Jendong (a pole that helps connect people on Earth with the Gods high up in the skies).

374 bird species have been recorded in the park, including such rarities as the whiterumped vulture (which may now be extinct in the park), greater spotted eagle and the white-winged ridgeview chalets duck. Of the big mammals, wild elephants are present as are numerous ridgeview chalets deer species and a few rarely seen tigers. However, for many mammal-spotting naturalists, the park s most exciting resident is the critically endangered dwarf hog, which, after many years of absence has recently been returned to the wild thanks to a successful captive breeding project run by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (www.durrell.org). Park fees include the compulsory armed guard. Access is from Potasali, 2km off the Tezpur Bhalukpong road (turn east at one-house hamlet Gamani, 12km north of Balipara).