Tour of Nagaland 2022 | Day 15 | Kohima| 0 kms

Today is the last day of the Hornbill Festival,10th of December. I am super excited as I am told that the closing ceremony is one of the best events of this festival. Today will also mark my last day here in Kohima as I plan to leave the city tomorrow. I plan to head to Dzuko Valley but haven’t thought much about it.

I got ready quickly, brushed, and showered myself with the available hot water brewed my morning coffee, and by 9 am, I was at the arena. As usual, all the tribe artists had lined up at the entrance to welcome the chief guests. I too was waiting behind the line to see who were all the chief guests for today.

The atmosphere was lively. The crowd was present in huge numbers and people were excited to see what the last day held for them. The high-profile guestlist included Nagaland CM as well as some members from the Supreme Court along with local political people. But, amongst all, the man standing out among all of them was the renowned master chef Gary Mehigan! He always seemed to be smiling.

The event started exactly at 10 am after a small talk given by all the chief guests. The event started with a loud war cry as the participating tribe slowly marked their way inside the arena. I was sitting right at the center of the arch side steps to get a good 180-degree view.

The afternoon break time was utilized to shop for some local products to bring them back home. Over the last 2 days, I had shortlisted quite a few products that I wanted to buy and utilized today’s last day to make my purchase. I bought some local foodstuff items, tribal shawls, t-shirts, Naga chili pickles, Wild Apple pickles, and some kitchen items made up of wood. There was even a stall put up by India Post and so I utilized the opportunity to send some nice Naga tribe printed postcards to all my friends. I even sent one for myself. I then rejoined the evening session.

The evening session was even more beautiful with many unique performances and presented with energy and vigour. The arena looked like a jam-packed cricket stadium. Once the performances were over, the organizing people started to make arrangements for the grand closing ceremony. It was publicly announced to assemble again after some time for the start of the closing ceremony.

The false green carpet was removed to reveal the soft sand below. Arrangements were made in the center of the ground to light a bonfire as huge logs of wood were getting stocked up. I made a point to see the last of the not-seen places around the heritage village before I rejoined the arena to witness the closing. The dusk had fallen as it was getting darker and darker. The crowd intensity was ever-growing and after some time, people were finding difficulty in searching for a place to sit. All the good vantage points had been taken by cameramen. I took a place which was right underneath and in front of the chief guests dias.

We had some cultural programs on the stages which were followed lighting up of a bonfire by none other than Gary Mehigan and the CM of Nagaland. The honour to torch the bonfire was presented to Gary who was then supported by the CM. Once the huge bonfire was lit, it cast an orange hue on all of us. The intensity of the fire was so much that even though I was standing at a comfortable distance, I could still feel the heat.

The tribal artists started circling the bonfire, hands held together, and dancing to the tune of the background music that was being played. Their hands make a forward and backward waving gesture as they rotate slowly in a circular fashion.

After some time, the tourists were also called in to join the celebration as small circles were formed and people tried their best to sync with the music and move in circles at the same time making movements with their feet and hands. I too pitched in. We even had current season Miss Nagaland join us at the closing ceremony. I couldn’t get a photo of her as she was swarmed with people who wanted to take a picture of them with her.

Afterwards, we had the bands coming on the concert stage and we all danced our hearts out to the soulful music played by them. This continued till the event was officially closed and the arena was emptied. We then took the music into our own hands and at one of the Morung, we created our concert by playing music from our mobiles and with the help of Bluetooth speakers. I was the DJ and along with some of my rider friends who were also present, we controlled the crowd through our music playlist. I bet all had the best time of their lives as people danced to our tunes. The area was jam-packed with people and it was ever growing. Finally, we were dead tired of dancing as I handed over the DJ responsibility to some other fellow and retired to one of the Morungs to have dinner. I had the ‘Ao’ tribal-style dinner which consisted of Pork Gravy served with Rice.

It was a perfect end to my stay here in Kohima as I planned to head towards Dzuko Valley tomorrow. In the evening break, I stumbled upon a girl from Gujarat who was also staying at the same campsite. As we went on talking she disclosed that she was also leaving Kohima the next day and was planning Dzuko. I interrupted her saying that I too wished the same to which she was happy to welcome me. Her name was Anakha and she was on a holiday break in India having come from Australia. She was traveling solo and had hired a guide to take her to Dzuko. It was nice to have some company as my next few days would be involved in trekking to the famous Dzuko valley.

We planned to start early tomorrow around 6 am as informed by the guide as he was going to pick us up from the campsite. The difficult part of storing the bike somewhere for 2 days was also sorted as the guide whose name was Rupam had a local friend near Kisama Heritage village and he assured me that my bike would be safe with them while we went on a trek to Dzuko valley.

With the Hornbill festival behind, it was time to head further on my tour of Nagaland. It was going to be exciting coming days as I looked forward to the trek. With my brain being excited to the max, I had a hard time dozing off!