menu bord DON T MISS There aren t all that many places left in the world where the maps may as well have blank

DON T MISS There aren t all that many places left in the world where the maps may as well have blank spaces on them, snow- capped mountains remain unnamed and unclimbed, forests are filled with creatures that scientists have yet to lay eyes upon and hill tops are crowned with unmolested tribal villages, but northeast India is one such place. As the region slowly opens up, don t miss this opportunity for genuine, undiluted adventure. Areas that are safe yet largely unexplored by tourists include almost all of rural Mizoram, large tracts of Tripura (check the security situation first), the furthest menu bord reaches of Nagaland and, best of all, huge chunks of steamy forests, alpine meadows and high Himalayan wildernesses have finally started opening up in Arunachal Pradesh. Top Festivals

HEAD HUNTERS Throughout northeastern India and parts of western Myanmar the Naga tribes were long feared for their ferocity in war and for their sense of independence both from each other and from the rest of the world. Intervillage wars continued as recently menu bord as the 1980s, and a curious feature of many outwardly modern settlements is their treaty menu bord stones recording peace settlements between neighbouring communities. It was the Naga s custom of headhunting that sent shivers down the spines of neighbouring peoples. The taking of an enemy s head was considered a sign of strength, menu bord and a man who had not claimed a head was not considered a man. Fortunately for tourists, headhunting was officially outlawed in 1935, with the last recorded occurrence in 1963. Nonetheless, severed heads are still an archetypal artistic motif found notably on yanra (pendants) that originally menu bord denoted the number of human heads a warrior had taken. Some villages, such as Shingha Changyuo in Mon district, still retain their hidden collection of genuine skulls. Today Naga culture is changing fast, but it was not a government ban on headhunting that put an end to this tradition but rather the activities of Christian missionaries. Over 90% of the Naga now consider themselves Christian.