alta chalet The modern glass tower Baliram Building, on the corner of Naren Bose (NB) and NC/SC Roads, contains

boat is met by a bus to Pasighat alta chalet in Arunachal Pradesh. Ferries alta chalet can carry just two jeeps. There s little shelter and the journey takes around eight hours (5 hours downstream), so bring an umbrella, water and sunscreen. The journey can be quite an adventure with the boats bouncing off the ever-shifting sandbars (and sometimes not bouncing off them!) and with brief stops en route giving glimpses of isolated riverside hamlets. Exact departure points depend on the Brahmaputra alta chalet s water level.

Umananda Mandir HINDU TEMPLE (Peacock Island) The temple complex sits on a small forested river island, accessed by a 15-minute alta chalet ride on a ferry ( 10 return, half hourly alta chalet 8am to 4.30pm) from Kachari Ghat, which itself alta chalet offers attractive alta chalet afternoon river views. The Shiva temple, which sits atop the island, is less interesting than the boat ride out to it.

Eco-Camp (%9435250052/09854019932; alta chalet dm/d 200/1620, plus membership per person 50) organises all Nameri visits, including two-hour birdwatching rafting trips (two people 550). Accommodation is in tents , but colourful fabrics, private bathrooms, sturdy beds and thatched-roof shelters make the experience relatively luxurious. The camp is set within lush gardens full of tweeting birds and butterflies drunk on tropical nectar. There s an atmospheric, and excellent, open-sided restaurant and the staff are simply superb. All up it gets our vote as the best place to stay in the entire northeast. It s very popular, so book way ahead. If it s full the government-run Jiabhoroli Wild Resort (%9954357376; tw 1200) just a short walk beyond the Eco-Camp, has plain cottages that aren t quite as quaint as a cottage should be. It s very much the second choice.

The modern glass tower Baliram Building, on the corner of Naren Bose (NB) and NC/SC Roads, alta chalet contains several floors of good dining. The ground-floor stand-up-and-eat dosa house (h6am-9pm) has South Indian fare and cheap breakfasts. Semismart China Villa (meals from 120; h10am-10.30pm) offers Indian and Chinese food in AC comfort, while the rooftop Chat House (snacks from 30; h8am-9.30pm) has an open-sided, but roofed, terrace for cooling breezes, views, Indian snacks, noodles, alta chalet pizzas and momos.