Sleeping Under The Stars

Dzukou is not just for people who enjoy spending time outdoors but for anyone looking to experience something new and delightfully untarnished

- Shibani Gogoi

Anything worthwhile is never easy, so goes the saying and this kind of applies to Dzukou Valley in many ways. It is not a destination where you can take a lot with you, literally, because the hike is quite strenuous and every extra kilo will start to feel three times heavy as time passes by. But that may be the true point of making your way to the valley; it is a place where you can forget the stress and worries of your mundane life and breathe some fresh air, camp out under the stars, indulge in hot soupy noodles, catch a glimpse of the Dzukou Lily and make new friends while sharing ghost stories huddled inside a tent.

Located on the shared border of Nagaland and Manipur, Dzukou Valley is in the bucket list of most travellers, mine included. And so, when my plan finally saw the light of day a couple of months back, I couldn’t have been more excited.

Initial Impressions

My friends and I took the train to Dimapur and reached Dimapur Junction at around 9 am, from where we booked a taxi to Kohima. It is easy to find taxis at the railway station, however to get the best rates, ask around a little. But my initial excitement did not last long as the dust, the muck spilling from the roads, the screeching of tyres were making the experience rather unpleasant. Although a 68 km journey, it took more than three hours to finally be able to shake hands with Kumar, our Bolero driver who would take us from Kohima to the starting point of our trek, Viswema.

This was when I got back some of my enthusiasm. A trail of dancing clouds started gathering above us and a mild shower accompanied by the green countryside along the way helped us forget the horrible Dimapur-Kohima journey. After about an hour and half, having covered a distance of around 24 km, we finally reached the starting point of our trek at Viswema village. We gathered our backpacks and started our uphill trek at 3:05 pm.