Home»All Photographs»Nagaland Jan 2010

Nagaland is a hill state located in the far north-eastern part of India. It borders the state of Assam to the west, Arunachal Pradesh and part of Assam to the north, Burma to the east and Manipur to the south. The state capital is Kohima, and the largest city is Dimapur. With a population of nearly two million people, it has a total area of 16,579 km² — making it one of the smallest states of India.

We recently undertook a bird survey supported by the Nagaland govt. covering parts of west and south Nagaland. The key birding sites we covered were Khonoma, Benrue and Inthanki. The birding part of the trip (along with the bird pictures) will go up on wildventures.com soon while this gallery focuses on the land and the people of Nagaland. While most of our time was spent in remote jungles, we did get a chance to soak urban Nagaland in Kohima and DImapur.

Kohima has a large cemetery for the Allied war dead maintained by the Commonwealth Graves Commission -- easily one of the the most impressive monuments in India. The cemetery lies on the slopes of Garrison Hill which was the scene of intense fighting -- the Battle of the Tennis Court. The cemetery commemorates the memories of the officers and men who sacrificed their lives during World War II. The Battle of Kohima was the turning point in the Burma Campaign where this bitter hand-to-hand battle and slaughter prevented the Japanese from gaining across the extensive flatlands of India. The famous inscription written on the War Memorial stone reads: When you go home Tell them of us and say, For your tomorrow, we gave our today.