Assam

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Tea plantation workers walk through a plantation.

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Overview

Stretching 600km along the Brahmaputra River Valley, with a spur down to the hilly southeast, Assam is the largest and most accessible of the Northeast States. Well known for its national parks abounding in rhinoceroses, elephants, deer and primates (with respectable tiger numbers too), it welcomes visitors with a subtly flavoured cuisine and a hospitable population with a vibrant artistic heritage. The archetypal Assamese landscape is a golden-green panorama of rice fields and manicured tea estates, framed by the blue mountains of Arunachal Pradesh in the north and the highlands of Meghalaya and Nagaland to the south. The birthplace of Indian tea, Assam has more than 3000 sq km of land carpeted in bright-green tea gardens, and visits to these estates are high on many travellers' itineraries.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

Kaziranga National Park

Assam

The park’s 2400 one-horned rhinos represent about two-thirds of the world’s total population (in 1904, there were only 200). Kaziranga offers popular 4WD…

Kamakhya Mandir

Guwahati

According to Hindu legend, when a distraught Shiva scattered the 108 (or 51) pieces of his deceased wife Sati's body across the land, her yoni (vagina)…

Talatal Ghar

Assam

The Talatal Ghar palace was the heart of an Ahom capital complex founded by King Rudra Singha. Built in the 1750s over an earlier wooden palace, it…

Manas National Park

Assam

The grasslands and lowland forests of Unesco-listed Manas National Park, abutting the Bhutan border about 150km northwest of Guwahati, are home to a very…

Nameri National Park

Assam

Beautiful Nameri National Park, comprising 200 sq km between the pristine Jia Bhorelli River and the forested hills of Arunachal Pradesh, is particularly…

Charaideo

Assam

Charaideo was the first Ahom capital, established in 1228 by the dynasty's founder Sukapha after his arrival in eastern Assam while seeking new lands with…

Tocklai Tea Research Institute

Assam

To delve into the science and processes behind a good cuppa, visit the Tocklai Institute, the world's largest and oldest tea research centre (founded in…

Ahom Temples

Assam

Three typical Ahom temple towers rise proudly above the partly wooded shore of Sivasagar tank. The centrepiece (and tallest) is the 33m-high Shivadol,…

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