Day 129 - Ziro

Ziro is a beautiful hill station in Arunachal Pradesh. It is  home to the Apa Tani tribe and famous for its pine hills and rice fields. The Apa Tani tribe is a unique Arunachal tribe and one of the rare ones that are not nomadic in nature. They cultivate wet lands and were famous for their facial tattoos; practice of the latter is stopped recently. A unique feature of the town is the Paddy cum Fish rearing system of the town. This cannot be seen anywhere else in the country. These farms are a must see while travelling to the town of Ziro.


How to reach here:

By Air: The closest airport is located at Tezpur.

By Rail: Ziro does not have its own railway station and the nearest rail-head is at Tezpur.


Best time to visit: Throughout the year.


Languages spoken: Aptani, Nishi, Hindi, Assamese.


Places you must visit:

Pine Grove, which was founded in 1961, is an ideal picnic spot and is located 3 km from the main destination.



Hapoli houses the main headquarters of the district administration. The name of this place is derived from Hao Polyang, as ‘hao’ means high and ‘polyang’ means plain.




Tarin Fish Farm is a popular tourist attraction where breeding of high altitude fishes is done. In this process, two crops of rice and one crop of fish, Ngihi, are raised together. The farm is located on a high altitude and is surrounded by pine and bamboo groves.

The Talley Valley Wildlife Sanctuary houses a diverse range of flora and fauna. The sanctuary is spread over an area of 337 square kilometers and is surrounded by silver fir trees, ferns, orchids, bamboo and rhododendron.  This sanctuary offers abode to several endangered species like clouded leopards. Situated towards the northwest of Ziro in Arunachal Pradesh, the Talley Valley Wildlife Sanctuary is known as a biodiversity zone.

 

Shiva Linga is located in the well known Sidheswar Nath Temple and was built in July 2004. This lingam has a height of 25 feet and a width of 22 feet. Tourists can see the constant flow of water from the base of the lingam. The temple has beautiful idols of Lord Ganesha and Goddess Parvati.

Dolo Mando is one of the famous attractions of Ziro and travellers can trek to the top of this hillock to view the Hapoli town and old Ziro. This hillock is situated on the western side of Ziro on the Daporijo Road.

Ziro Puto is among the popular hills, which offers a view of the  valley where Ziro is located. It is the place where cantonment of Indian Army was situated and the first administrative centre was set up at Ziro Puto after India's independence.

Paddy Cum Fish Cultivation is a famous cultivation practice, where fishes are reared along with paddy cultivation. In this process, paddies are transplanted in the wet rice cultivation field and then the fish fingerlings are put in Pakho at knee deep height. These are kept for two to three months before harvesting the fish. The sowing begins in the month of February and the harvesting is done in October.

Tipi Orchid Research Center is surrounded with hills and semi green tropical rain forest vegetation. This center covers an area of about 10 hectares and houses orchid-aria  museum, garden, office buildings, tissue culture lab and her-barium. The main attraction of this center is the orchid glass house that is built of fiber glass roof and has a display gallery and central pond with fountain. The house was inaugurated on 26th December 1972 and has 1,000 orchids displayed in the hanging baskets and pots. Tourists can explore different species of orchids like cattleya, dendrobium, vanda and paphiopedilum.

Meghna Cave Temple is situated at Daporijo, which is located close to the destination. This temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and is visited by a number of travellers and devotees.

Midey is a popular place known for Samenii and SAT-NII Piisha, the blue pine trees. The site houses tallest and biggest trees in the Apatani valley. Located in the dense bamboo grove, the site is also popular for trekking and hiking.