BharatSangraha

Naga Hills · Northeast Hill Massif

Terrain and eco-zones

Monsoon subtropical grading to temperate with altitude. Rainfall runs 2,000–2,500 mm, almost all of it between May and September, and it falls on slopes steep enough that soil moves with it — which is the engineering problem every farming system here answers. Kohima at 1,450 m sits between about 4 °C on a January night and 30 °C in July; the Konyak ridges to the north are several degrees warmer and much more humid; Dzukou and Japfü hold frost and occasional snow.

Landforms

Parallel north-south ridges of the Patkai and Barail systems, folded and steeply dippingSaramati, 3,841 m, the highest point, standing on the frontier watershedJapfü, 3,048 m, above KohimaDzukou Valley, a bowl at about 2,450 m carpeted in dwarf bambooContour terrace staircases at Khonoma, Kigwema and through the Chakhesang uplandsJhum slopes on a rotation that has shortened from twenty years to under ten in most areas

Rivers and waters

Doyang — the Lotha country river, dammed at Wokha for hydro and now a raptor roostDikhu — the Ao and Konyak drainage, running north-west into the Brahmaputra systemDhansiri — the western river, connecting Dimapur to the plainsTizu and Zungki — running east into the Chindwin, and therefore into MyanmarBarak headwaters — rising in the Tangkhul and Zeliang country and turning south-west

Through the year

SeasonMonthsTypicalWhat it is like
Cold dry seasonNovember–February4–24 °CThe festival and travel window. Harvest is in, granaries are full, meat is smoked, and the big calendar events — Tokhu Emong, Ngada, the Hornbill Festival, Sekrenyi — fall here.
Pre-monsoonMarch–April12–30 °CJhum fields are cut, dried and burnt; the sowing festivals — Aoleang, Monyu — mark the end of that work. Haze from the burns can close the Dimapur runway.
MonsoonMay–September18–30 °CLandslides close hill roads without notice and the Dzukou trek becomes a leech field. Moatsu and Tuluni fall in this stretch, both marking the gap between sowing and harvest.
Post-monsoonOctober15–28 °CClearest skies of the year, and the Amur falcon passage over Doyang.

Best time to visitOctober to April. December for the Hornbill Festival at Kisama, with the caveat that it is a curated showcase and not a village calendar event. June and July for the Dzukou lily, if the trek is the point. Non-residents need an Inner Line Permit for Nagaland, and separately for the hill districts of Manipur.

The climate, landforms, rivers and seasons of Naga Hills, and the best time of year to visit. (4)