Ziro Valley

Northeast India · Arunachal Pradesh

Ziro Valley, Arunachal Pradesh

Apatani rice terraces and a music festival · ~443-450 km from Guwahati

Plan this trip

Getting there

By road

~443-450 km from Guwahati

By rail

Naharlagun, ~95-105 km

By air

Lilabari (North Lakhimpur) Airport, ~100-123 km, or Jorhat, ~93-98 km, both with limited flights; Guwahati (~443-450 km) has the widest connections

Best time to visit

September for the Ziro Festival of Music; March-October generally

Don't miss

Apatani villages of Hong and Hija

Talley Valley WLS

Meghna Cave Temple

Things to do

Village walks with Apatani elders

Festival camping

Paddy-cum-fish farm visits

Where to eat

Festival food stalls

Homestay kitchens — smoked pork

Bamboo shoot

Local rice beer

Sources: wikimedia, Photo: Ashwani Kumar · CC BY-SA 4.0

What to pack

Layers, rain shell, Inner Line Permit, festival tickets early

A quieter corner

Talley Valley's untouched forest sanctuary a day-trek away

About Ziro Valley

Hills

Where it is

Ziro is a high valley in Arunachal Pradesh's Lower Subansiri district, a broad bowl of rice fields ringed by pine- and bamboo-covered hills at about 1,700 m, some 115 km from the state capital, Itanagar.

History

The Apatani people have farmed the Ziro valley for centuries, growing wet rice on plots watered by channels from the surrounding hills without farm animals or machines. In 2014 the Apatani cultural landscape was placed on India's tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage status, and since 2012 the Ziro Festival of Music has drawn visitors to the valley.

People

The Apatani speak their own Tani language and follow Donyi-Polo, the worship of the sun and the moon, as well as Christianity. They celebrate Myoko in March and Dree in July, and some older Apatani women still bear the traditional facial tattoos, a custom no longer practised.

Known for

Apatani villages such as Hong and Hija
Terraced rice fields and pine groves
The Ziro Festival of Music
The Dree and Myoko festivals
Talley Valley Wildlife Sanctuary

Did you know?

Apatani farmers raise fish in their flooded rice fields and harvest both from the same plots, a paddy-cum-fish system noted for its productivity and care for the land.