Adventure in Tropical Jungles of East Arunachal

Day 28 to 30 . Thick jungle flanked us for most of the 65 kms ride from Roing to Tezu in the Lohit district of eastern Arunachal. We saw visible signs of sparser villages and lesser ‘development’ though the roads were very good. The sounds of the only lesser ape in India – Easter Hoolock Gibbon – resounded in the forest ( see the Story ). The magnificence of the incredibly dense jungles of eastern Arunachal are mesmerising. Immensely trees with creeper and canopies of vines soaring into the skies were fascinating. The last time I saw such gigantic trees was in California. Barring an odd motorcycle or jeep there was hardly any traffic and we had the road to ourselves. But as we rode along the jungle and the thick grass grazing our Leo’s we would keep our eyes peeled for deadly vipers slithering across the road, as the region abounds in the creatures.

We accommodated ourselves in the only acceptable guest house in Tezu right on the highway and were here for two days, waiting for the weather to clear in the mountains, as we plan to ride to Kaho, the first Indian village on the India China border, 200 kms away.

Day 30. Our legs pedalled into the mountains from the plains of eastern Arunachal from Parshuram Kund near Tezu to Tidding Bridge. The bridge is a major one and is saddled across the incredible Lohit river. We rode on a road with hardly any traffic but an eerie silence of the jungle broken only by the roar of the river down below and sounds of birds. This is another world by itself of thousands of sk kms of only jungle. No villages and farmlands dot the hills like they do in the mountains of the North. It’s just dense jungle for as far as eyes can travel. It reminded me of the vast wilderness in the Yukon.

Our day’s ride on an uncharted and unmapped road ended there in the afternoon and after a quick lunch at the sole truckers dhaba we chose to camp a bit away from it on a ledge overlooking the river. It was an amazing site with a leaking mountain water pipe as our source for fresh water. We cooked our dinner drank some tea and by five were in our tent as soon as it was totally dark by 5.30 pm. With no network it was easy to begin dozing though I was having a reaction to some bee bites ( more on that later ) At about six in the evening two soldiers from the army came by to check our ILP and identities and once satisfied, they shook hands and left. They must have seen our campfire. The next day we had a rough ride ahead of us to Hayuliang.