Access to Arunachal Pradesh? (1 Viewer)

[ABCY 1]

Hi. Requesting current information about access for birding groups into Arunachal Pradesh. I'm interested in eagles nest but find the whole of north east India is listed as "reconsider your need for travel" by the Australian government travel advisory service. Anyone know how serious the risks might be?
Grateful for any advice based on recent experience.

 

[Xenospiza]

The Dutch travel advice for Northeast India says only to travel to Assam, Tripura, Nagaland and Manipur "if necessary", but Arunachal Pradesh is as safe or unsafe as the rest of India. Eagles Nest is pretty much devoid of people anyway. You need a restricted area permit for Arunachal Pradesh (so you can't travel alone).

Assam has been unruly for ever. In Dibrugarh (in the east of Assam), no one bothered me at all. It was as if I was invisible... which was a bit unnerving!

Be worried about elephants.

 

[ABCY 1]

Thanks for that, much as I thought, the advisory is unhelpful. We had a close encounter with an elephant in Taman Negara, definitely treat with respect!

 

[temmie]

The border with China has heavy military presence (at least on the Indian side). China still claims Arunachal.

So besides the very peaceful locals and buddhist monks, you see a lot of Indian soldiers on the main roads and in army camps in the bigger places. But as said, Eaglesnest is very safe and devoid of people.

I got in by 'joining' a tour group (just for the way in and the way out). At Eaglesnest, I was on my own.
Technically, you need a permit for a group of minimum 4 people. But if you are e.g. 2 people, you can pay for the missing 2 people as well. This is rather costly though, so I would either search for 4 people and a local travel agency, or try to hook up with an ongoing tour for the Arunachal part.

some more info on the permit thing: http://www.clsp.jhu.edu/~zak/ramana/wapMiscLogistics.htm

 

[ABCY 1]

Thanks Temmie

The visa info is very helpful. For reasons of time (and accompanying teenagers with limited pateince) we'll ikley be looking to join an organised our.