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Balpakram National Park

Balpakram National Park

wildlife park · Meghalaya

State
Meghalaya
Type
Wildlife Park

Land of the eternal wind is what the name means in Garo myth, and at around 910 metres up against the Bangladesh border in the South Garo Hills, you can see where that came from. The park was inaugurated in December 1987 and gives habitat to barking deer, wild water buffalo, Indian elephant, marbled cat, Asian golden cat, red panda and Bengal tiger, a list that reads better than most visitors' day will. Come for the country and the quiet rather than a guaranteed sighting, and treat any cat as pure luck.

Balpakram National Park is known for

Land of the eternal windElephant and tiger habitatSouth Garo Hills park

Balpakram National Park guide & itineraries

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Shillong

Shillong

Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya, is the cultural and musical heart of Northeast India — nicknamed the 'Scotland of the East' for its rolling hills and pine-clad landscape. With its cafe scene, live-music culture, waterfalls and easy access to the wonders of Meghalaya, it has become a top pick for young travellers heading east. The city blends Khasi culture, colonial-era charm and a famously music-loving population (it's often called India's rock capital) with a buzzing cafe and hostel scene. It works perfectly as a workation base and a launchpad for Cherrapunji, living root bridges and Dawki's crystal-clear river.

Cherrapunji & Living Root Bridges

Cherrapunji & Living Root Bridges

Cherrapunji, known traditionally by its indigenous name Sohra, is a high tableland at 1,430 metres on the southern face of the East Khasi Hills in Meghalaya. The land drops away sharply from it into the low-lying plains of Bangladesh, and what lies between is cut by deep vertical canyons, honeycombed with colossal limestone caves, and hung with some of the world's highest plunge waterfalls — among them Nohkalikai, the tallest plunge fall in India. The valleys below hold the living root bridges. Khasi clans grow them over decades, training the aerial roots of Ficus elastica trees out across thundering mountain rivers. The finest of them is the Double Decker Living Root Bridge, deep on the valley floor at Nongriat village.

Dawki & Mawlynnong

Dawki & Mawlynnong

Dawki and Mawlynnong sit in the southern hills of Meghalaya near the Bangladesh border, known for the crystal-clear Umngot River and for Mawlynnong's title as 'Asia's cleanest village'. Between them they make one of the Northeast's most photogenic offbeat circuits, and a busier one every year. The Umngot at Dawki is so transparent that the boats on it appear to float on air; people come to take a boat out and to camp. Mawlynnong, nearby, keeps itself clean by community effort, and has living root bridges and a sky-walk viewpoint over the plains of Bangladesh. It is a genuinely sustainable place to visit.

Umiam Lake (Barapani)

Umiam Lake (Barapani)

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