ChaloHoppo to Celebrate Chapchar Kut in Mizoram!
From exploring the organised streets of Aizawl to walking in the virgin forests; driving through the Wild Mizoram to boarding two-wheeler taxis; trekking to the top of the surreal peak to caving in the pitch dark; buying fruits from shopkeeper-less shops to challenging your taste buds with Mizo food. Explore the land far east!
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Reviews 1 Review5/5
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Vacation Style Holiday Type
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Hiking
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Mizoram
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Activity Level Moderate
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Group Size Medium Group
Get your souls wandering in the least known land of the North-East. Experience the life on the other side, a country within itself. Explore the mix of Korean-Mizo culture and alien tasting delicacies. Take a drive around the quiet but awake Aizawl.
Drive through the wild Mizoram to feel ADVENTURE at its best. Satisfy your hunger to trek and cave. Disappear in the never-ending spring hills and let your thoughts flow on the paper. Find your childhood among the empty corn fields and kids fishing in the ponds. Find solace in the sound of water falling through mountains. Witness Mizoram celebrate the Festival of Spring! Celebrate Mizoram!
Note of thanks: We would like to thank David Channa of Aizawl for allowing us to use his pictures to bring this itinerary to life. During our travel, we don’t always have a professional photographer to document the beauty of the place and hence such help and cooperation help us greatly.
- Breakfast and Dinner on all the days.
- Accommodation on twin sharing basis in Hotels.
- ChaloHoppo Guy as the tour leader.
- Transport throughout the trip.
- Parking, tolls, driver allowance, driver accommodation and driver food.
- All necessary permits to enter Mizoram.
- A local expert guide.
- All the activities on the trip.
- Airfare charges.
- All food & beverages cost apart from the ones mentioned above.
- Trekking shoes and clothing ( Any personal equipment).
- Any camera fees.
- Hotel & driver tips if any, since the locals earn low wages, your tips can show your appreciation)
- Any personal expenditure (Toiletries, medicines, etc.).
- Cost incidental to any change in the itinerary/ stay on account of flight cancellation due to bad weather, ill health, roadblocks and/or any factors beyond control.
- Anything not specifically mentioned under the head “Inclusions”.
Chaltlang Tourist Lodge.
The perfect place to stay in the higher region of Aizawl. The food and services are apt and friendly for the first time travellers to the Unexplored Mizo Land.
Thenzawl Tourist
The serene abode in the beautiful town of Thenzawl. The spacious beautiful gardens are a perfect match for your cosy cottages. The best staying option in the less explored town of Thenzawl.
30 Days prior to arrival: 50% refund
15 Days prior to arrival: 25% refund
Less than 15 Days prior to arrival : 0% refund
– Carry a small bag(10 to 15 litres) for your trek that can fit essential toiletries and change of clothes for 1 night to reduce the weight on your shoulders and make the trek easier.
– Basic toiletries and allergy medications and tissue rolls (if you need)
– Head lamps/ Torches with batteries
– Quick dry towels
– Band aids
ID Proof : Voters card/ Pan Card/ Passport/ Drivers license/ Aadhar card (to be sent on mail upon confirming the trip to [email protected])
Other things that you may bring along :
Sun tan lotion
Playing cards and small board games,in case you don’t feel sleepy at nights.
We will have pick up and drop facility to and from Lengpui airport once you share the arrival time of your flight.
Please avoid carrying plastic bottles or even buying sealed bottles while at the venue as want to have a litter free zone as much as possible.
Though we will try our best to give you great service, please understand we won’t be able to give you hot towels, bed tea and the like.
Entry to the states of Mizoram does require a permit (ILP). You can get your Inner Line Permit at Lengpui airport.
A most definite yes, as long as you are okay travelling in a mixed group of other solo travellers or small group of friends.
- Winter jacket
- Headlamps/ Torches with batteries
- balaclava/ beanie (something that covers your ears and your head)
- Sports socks and Swimwear for the trek, you can also get swimming goggles or snorkelling masks, and swimming cap
- Raincoat (just in case, since you are travelling in ‘abode of clouds’)
- Trekking shoes (basic ones will do)
- quick dry towels (plastic bag/ ziplock to carry your wet clothes)
- Allergy medications and other medicines, since these are very remote places with very little access to most basic things.
- A non-disposable water bottle to fill water and AVOID BUYING MINERAL WATER
- ID Proof – Voters card/ Pan Card/ Passport/ Drivers license/ Aadhar cardYou can always buy these things from the Decathlon (1 km away from the airport) in Guwahati, if you wish.
Other things that you may bring along :
Tissue rolls
Playing cards and small board games, in case you don’t feel sleepy at night
Bottle openers
Go pro for underwater shots
The cultural diversity of northeast India is so vast that we can’t blame outsiders for not being aware of communities in the region who are purely vegetarians, so much so that they avoid eating onions( they are indigenous to the region, in case you are thinking about communities from mainland India who have settled here). Having said that, we must admit that the region’s food habits especially in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya are predominantly non vegetarian with a whole lot of red meat based preparations. But the states have warmed up to tourists recently and almost every place you visit will provide the Indian staple diet of rice, dal and sabji, even chapatis if you are lucky. As far as Tripura, Assam, Manipur and Sikkim are concerned vegetarians have decent number of options. Your craving for butter paneer may not be satisfied, but you will do just fine as far as maintaining your health and strength is concerned.
Please do carry some road trip snacks for the long journeys on the trip.
You have two options to reach Aizawl:
- Take a flight to Lengpui Airport. There is only one Air India flight from Kolkata everyday flying into Lengpui. It reaches Lengpui by 2:30 pm.
- Land in Guwahati and take an overnight train to Silchar. From Silchar take a shared sumo or hire a cab to reach Aizawl, it will take you around 9 hours on road.
On the day there are 3 flights flying from Lengpui to Kolkata. Out of these only one which takes off at 12:15 pm is the ideal one. The rest of them take a lot of time to reach Kolkata.
The only flights to Lengpui Airport are from Kolkata. All the flights form Mumbai, Delhi and other major cities are connecting flights via Kolkata.
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The sight of Tlawng, the longest river in Mizoram running through is one to cherish.
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A Shop without a Shopkeeper on the highway is a common sight in Mizoram.
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A view from Reiek Tlang is worth the trek it demands.
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The Mizo villages were spacious enough to welcome people from other clans.
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The widow's house had no room for windows in the Mizo villages.
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The chief's house walls were decorated with hunted trophies of animals and humans back in the days.
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Zalbuk, the place where boys turned into men.
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The Mizo Chief's house in a traditional Mizo Village in Falkawn.
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The hunted heads hung to indicate the strength of a traditional Mizo Village.
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The state with the best sense of traffic has two-wheeler taxis to hop on.
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The writer's dreamland, Sialsuk with a lonely swing on the misty peak.
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The town of thenzawl with a cover of corn fields throughout.
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The swinging town of Thenzwal with small ponds all around.
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The view of Tuirihiau from the cave behind the falls.
As a travel blogger and ardent traveller myself, I am constantly on the lookout for offbeat destinations and when I heard from Chalohoppo that I could be one of the first few to visit this Indian state I did not wait much and booked my trip right away. Till the day I began the trip I was nervous because nobody else had signed up, but later I realized what a great miss it was for all the people out there. Mizoram offers all the beauty that all other northeastern states boast of but with zero tourist crowds, the natural beauty of the waterfalls, treks etc. is still pristine and truly from a fairyland. The team curates each of their trips with utmost care, dedication and passion. If you're someone who values the culture, local cuisine and experiences more than anything then these are the people. Abhishek from Chalohappo with whom I travelled never made me feel uncomfortable even though I was the only traveller. He had done his research well and made sure I experienced the best throughout. Eagerly waiting to go on more trips with these guys!