Apatani Village Walk, Ziro

The Apatani are one of Arunachal Pradesh's best-known tribes, and a guided village walk in Ziro is the most rewarding way to meet them. Villages such as Hong — one of the largest — Hija, Hari and Bulla are dense clusters of bamboo-and-timber houses raised on stilts, with tall bamboo poles (babo) erected during festivals and stone or wooden platforms (lapang) where clans gather.

Your guide will explain the Apatani's celebrated farming system: terraced wet-rice fields that also raise fish, fed by an intricate network of channels and managed communally without draught animals or machines. You will also learn about the Donyi-Polo faith, Myoko and Dree festivals, and the facial tattoos and large nose plugs (yaping hurlo) once worn by Apatani women, now seen only among elders as the practice ended decades ago.

Walks often include a visit to a home for rice beer (apong) and local snacks, and a stop at the bamboo groves and pine forests around the valley. Please photograph people only with permission and through your guide.