A trek to paradise: Dzukou Valley, Nagaland

Tripoto
23rd May 2018
Day 1

Dzukou valley is definately one of the most beautiful, out of the few places I have been to. It is situated at an altitude of 2452m above sea level at the border of the states of Nagaland and Manipur. The mesmerizing view of the valley is a treat for your eyes with beautiful flora and fauna. Wow. What a feeling!!
Also a great place for trekking enthusiasts.
After reaching Dimapur one can easily get reserved or shared taxis to Kohima, capital city of Nagaland . We were charged Rs. 300 per person in shared taxi. We left from Dimapur at 9 am towards Kohima , but we were very unfortunate as the highway was closed , I think due to maintenance work and we had to take an off-roading detour , which definitely cost us more hours.. we reached Kohima around 1pm. We bought some drinks and food to energize us on our trek. You can start the trek from two entry points , one at viswema village and the other at zakhama. I heard that zakhama trek is a bit short but difficult than the route from viswema. As this was my first trek and none of us in the group were experienced trekkers we chose to start from viswema . And the good thing in the viswema route is that the car can drop us some few KM's uphill which will also shorted our trek distance and had to walk less. The car took us till the last vehicle dropping point, we got down, took our rucksacks and started the trek. The time was around 3:00pm. I knew that first KM's of the trek we had to climb uphill . At first when I started I just regretted. I was totally out of breadth. My legs were pumped and I felt very hard to walk. My heart was beating out of my chest and I could hear it. Never done trekking before. I also had a big bagpack, my friends were also damn tired but we knew we can and we will do it, so we carried on. One thing was on my mind to complete the uphill trek before evening, as it was already getting dark and from what I heard after reaching up then we have to just keep on walking on a narrow path for few hours but no climbing and it is plain. We took short breaks but finally we completed the uphill and reached the top. We reached the top at around 5pm. It was almost dark and foggy. Stopped and drank some water and a red bull.. clicked some pics and resumed with our trek . After that it was just endless walking on the plains but the road was narrow and slippery as it was also raining. So we were very careful. It was also pretty cold then and continuous wind blowing. The view was so beautiful that it all was worth it. Very natural trek it is, walking amidst the nature , I was humming all my fav songs and just kept walking. Slowly it was very dark. Couldnt see anything. My friend and I were the last ones to reach. We had our torches and we were following the trails . Not a sound except the howling winds. Far away could see a light, the rest house.. and after seeing the light it kind of sparkled our spirits and our desire to reach soon. Our friends had already reached the rest house.. it was very cold till then , the time was about 7pm. Finally reached the rest house at around 7:20pm. There were two dormitories. It was very dark in the outside. Couldnt see anything without the torch. It was very cold too, we just rushed into one dormitory. It was empty ,only our group.. the floors were bitter cold.. all our clothes and shoes were wet due to the rain.. we quickly changed our clothes. The caretakers of the rest house can provide you blanket , sleeping mat, pillow for very minimal charges. We took two blankets each.. we also had our sleeping bag , it was so cold. but finally we were happy that we could complete our trek with no difficulty.. we opened a bottle of rum and there the party began. Thankfully some local group had a guitar , I politely asked them if they could lend for some time. They willingly gave us the guitar for some time.. we played some great classics , everyone sang and everyone was very happy and drunk ofcourse.
The time was about 9:30pm. We ordered dal , rice for dinner which was RS. 200 per plate , I don't remember very well though. We were lucky that there was dry fish in the kitchen and they shared with us. Everyone had their dinner  very well as everyone was hungry and tired. We then laid the sleeping mats and slept off.. it was very very cold but we had a comfortable sleep.

Day 2

Oh what a view to wake up to!!! It was 7am in the morning , the sunlight came in through the cracked windows of the dorm. I rushed outside and was totally blown away by the view. We reached in very dark the previous night so had no idea what was the view like and what we had in store. It was breadthtaking. The sun was shining bright and we quickly left our wet clothes and shoes in the verandah to dry up. The rain may come anytime. Weather is unpredictable at such height. We also saw that there were two cottages which had rooms with bed, on a cliff near the dorm area. I enquired and found that one group had checked out this morning. I immediately booked it. Atleast we could sleep in wood and closed room to keep us warm . We shifted our things to the cottage. We carried some eatables , and made our breakfast and were ready to explore some more of the valley. We had a local guide with us. The whole day we explored the beautiful valley and the natural caves. Beautiful streams flowing in between the valley, wild flowers , beautiful flora and fauna, blooming Rhodendrons making the valley look just amazing. We stopped in many beautiful spots to take photographs. Luckily while visiting one of the caves , someone left rice, dal , masala packers, salt, oil and some raw pork , guess they left this morning and didn't want to carry and we were the lucky ones.. we quickly lit the fire and roasted the meat and everyone enjoyed some roasted pork.
We spend the whole day trekking in the valley , chilling and spending one of the best time of our life.
We returned to the camp at around 4pm in the evening. Took some rest in our rooms and then prepared the dinner from the rice, dal we found in the cave. We decided to prepare khichdi. Everyone was ofcourse very drunk till we finished cooking. It was so cold that we took one or two more pegs to keep us warm and eventually we got drunk . Everyone had their dinner.. we also made some new friends from South India, if I remember. That was their first time in northeast.. we exchange few talks and some joints. Had a great night and finally we dozed off in our rooms. Peaceful sleep we had, we weren't feeling too cold as we weren't sleeping on the floor. Slowly dozed off.

Day 3

We had to leave this morning but the weather was very bad . Very strong winds were blowing and raining outside. All we could hear was the loud howling winds.. At first we were a bit tensed to trek our way back at this kind of weather.. but the rain began to slow down and we were ready to go back. We began our trek , we were very relaxed and slow.. also we didn't wanna leave the valley.. I stopped and stared the view for few minutes in the hope of taking some with me back home. The rain was slow at the beginning but eventually it started showering heavily.. we were all drenched in rain.. We also told the sumo driver who dropped us on the first day to pick us up when we return . We had his phone number and so we called him and he said that he remembers and will reach on time to pick us up. Finally after few hours of trekking we reached the bottom. I was tired as hell. Trekking kills me. Have to do it more often. We got in the car and asked him to drop us in Kohima bus stop near the market. We had awesome naga food as a reward to ourselves for completing this beautiful trek. After lunch we booked a sumo to reach Dimapur.. and finally reached Dimapur around 7pm in the evening.. checked into a hotel to stay the night, recalling the beautiful views and memories of the magnificent dzukou valley which we will cherish everytime and also made a  promise to myself to visit this place again in near future.. a definately recommend place to visit when in Nagaland or Manipur.

P.s. The Angami people and their association is working very hard to preserve and keep this valley clean and green. And so as tourists/ travellers it is our duty to help them preserve their beauty by not littering the place and loving nature . Cheers.

Below some pics from our trip is enclosed. Thanks.

Photo of A trek to paradise: Dzukou Valley, Nagaland by Krishnav Das
Photo of A trek to paradise: Dzukou Valley, Nagaland by Krishnav Das
Photo of A trek to paradise: Dzukou Valley, Nagaland by Krishnav Das
Photo of A trek to paradise: Dzukou Valley, Nagaland by Krishnav Das
Photo of A trek to paradise: Dzukou Valley, Nagaland by Krishnav Das
Photo of A trek to paradise: Dzukou Valley, Nagaland by Krishnav Das
Photo of A trek to paradise: Dzukou Valley, Nagaland by Krishnav Das
Photo of A trek to paradise: Dzukou Valley, Nagaland by Krishnav Das
Photo of A trek to paradise: Dzukou Valley, Nagaland by Krishnav Das
Photo of A trek to paradise: Dzukou Valley, Nagaland by Krishnav Das
Photo of A trek to paradise: Dzukou Valley, Nagaland by Krishnav Das
Photo of A trek to paradise: Dzukou Valley, Nagaland by Krishnav Das