My plans to send regular posts of our recent trip to India took a step-back when we discovered that WiFi was non-existent in Arunachal Pradesh and there were frequent power outages. The state is in the north-east of India and is a restricted area requiring special permission to enter. This involved more paperwork, lengthy delays at the border and telephone calls from the local police to keep tabs on us. This is one of those regions occupied briefly by the Chinese in the Sino-Indian war in the 1960’s and the location of recent political controversy following the publication of new maps which appear to annexe the state to China. Not surprisingly there was a significant military presence throughout our stay.

Arunachal Pradesh is mostly Himalayan foothills but with a number of peaks exceeding 23,000′. The highest point on our journey was Sela Pass at 14,000′ – which was plenty high enough from a respiratory perspective! Stunning mountainous forests, tiny communities and terraced cultivations clinging to the hillsides and torturous access tracks with frequent land-slides. Most flat valley locations being occupied by military installations. We stayed in a variety of hotels / lodgings with the most remote, Bompu Camp, a tented settlement 4 hours from the nearest main road. Run by the local Bugun tribe, it provides basic but homely accommodation right at the heart of Eagle Nest Wildlife Sanctuary – an extravagance of biodiversity with over 450 bird species, relatively easily accessed by a network of tracks and trails. On the way up to and from Eagle Nest we stopped off at the Nameri NP, had a day trip to Sela Pass and birded around Tenga Market and the birding hotspot of Mandala.

Over the whole trip, including Assam, we recorded 330 birds and plenty of interesting animals, butterflies and general wildlife – but it felt like we’d barely ‘touched the sides’ of this fascinating region. Mountainous forest terrain is a birders ‘heaven & hell’. You can walk for miles and hardly see a bird, then they come in waves – a dozen species in a mixed feeding flock are past in minutes. Seeing them is difficult – photographing them, near impossible! Here is a sample of my best efforts, punctuated with a few ‘holiday snaps’.