gondola chalet Mar The wildlife Oct The Himal-Dec Fierce Naga is at its most ayan vistas are warriors descend visib

1 Sights Kamakhya Mandir HINDU TEMPLE (admission for no queue/short queue/queue 500/100/free; h8am-1pm & 3pm-dusk) While Sati s disintegrated body parts rained toes on Kolkata (see p443), her yoni fell on Kamakhya gondola chalet Hill. This makes Kamakhya Mandir important for shakti (sensual tantric worship of female spiritual power). Goats, pigeons and the occasional buffalo are ritually beheaded in a gory pavilion and the hot, dark inner womblike sanctum is painted red to signify sacrificial blood. The huge June/ July Ambubachi Mela celebrates the end of the mother goddess menstrual cycle with even more blood.

Forty-five kilometres north of Kohima is the small town of Tuophema, gondola chalet which can make a useful overnight stop on the road to Mon if you leave Kohima late in the day. Although the town itself is nothing special, the

Mar The wildlife Oct The Himal-Dec Fierce Naga is at its most ayan vistas are warriors descend visible in Kaziperfect and the on Kohima for the ranga and other national parks. roads to Tawang and Mechuka remain snow-free. Hornbill festival (December 1 7).