Like most of the weekends in the past few months, the coming Saturday too, looked unexciting and monotonous when I went to bed last night. Lately, either I had been busy or the missus had been working on the past few Saturdays. Hence, to road-trips even though we live in the North East [read heaven for road trip lovers].

Things, however, changed for good the next morning when we realized that the missus won’t have to be at work today. In another half an hour or so, we were on the highway, on a short but much-needed road trip from Guwahati to Nameri National Park.

Guwahati To Nameri National Park Road Trip

The monsoon is one of my most favorite times of the year and I love going on road-trips during the monsoons in North East India. Just to enjoy the freshness all around and of course, the hanging clouds and gurgling waterfalls, if for nothing else. So naturally, this trip was more than a refreshing change from the monotony.

One of the best things about being on road-trips in North East India is the views. Whether you are on the highway or are navigating through country roads, the views never fail to delight you. The road from Guwahati to Nameri National Park is one such delightful drive, save for the few towns that dot it. But we being we, taking the countryside roads naturally seemed a way better option. So, that is what we did, ditched the highway and took the beautiful village roads.

Reaching The Nameri Eco Camp

Since we had started pretty late, around noon to be more specific and since we took a detour through the village roads, to enjoy ourselves, by the time we neared Tezpur, it was already dark (the sun sets early in the North East). Tezpur to Nameri is another 40 kilometers or so.

Hotels, Homestays, and Eco-Camps in Nameri National Park

Nameri, being a protected area, which is also quite remote, has very limited stay options. Just a few eco-camps in Nameri and a couple of Nameri homestays that have recently come up. I had checked about availability at one of the few eco-camps in Nameri that remain open during the off-season. We decided to head there. The only catch was, it being the off-season, there was hardly any staff manning the place and food options were very limited.

We decided to take our chicken and get it cooked there from an almost closed market on the way.

Driving through a deep jungle under on a pitch dark night was an experience in itself. And the location of the eco-camp was no less. Crickets and all sorts of injects calling at night and a hundred different birds calling the next morning was much more than we had wanted. Add to that the fact that there were hardly any other guests there.

Trekking And Activities at Nameri National Park

Since our agenda was just to get out on the road, enjoy the drive and spend the night at a calm & remote place, it did not bother us that no activities were available in Nameri at this time. This being the off-season, all the adventure activities like the jungle trekking in Nameri, jungle safari and rafting in the Jia Bhorelli river (also known as the Kameng river) remain closed because of the heavy rains.

Nameri To Bhalukpong

We never want to miss being near (if not in) the mountains whenever possible so returning from Nameri itself, without visiting the mountains of Arunachal Pradesh was never an option. Our last road-trip to Arunachal Pradesh was a while back and we did not see another one happening any time sooner anyways. Driving from Nameri to Bhalukpong was the next best thing we could do at the moment, so that is what we did.

Thanks to the rains again, our this short drive too was full of numerous quick stops. We stopped, soaked-in the views around us, took photos (sometimes) drove, and then repeated the entire exercise all over again. No wonder, it took us twice the time to reach Bhalukpong than it should have otherwise. We were not complaining though.

Also Read: How To Get Arunachal Pradesh ILP

Bhalukpong To Guwahati

After spending some time by the Kameg river, doing nothing, just seeing it go by, we finally started our return journey. And no prizes for guessing which route we took on our way back. Of course, the same countryside roads, giving the highways (as much as possible) a miss.

Looking back, while we did not do anything on this trip, unlike most of our trips, we were finally able to break the jinx and get out of the monotony of the past few weeks.

End of a very refreshing trip!

Have you been to Nameri before? What did you like the most about it?