We took a two week tour of nagaland in oct this year.fantastic would not have seen or had access to any to any of this amazing culture if it hadn’t been for Greener Pastures. Our guide was fabulous and unflappable and being a Nagaman had all the answers to our questions. From the car to to our homestays it was all taken care of. A true adventure cannot wait to go back with these guys.
We visited Assam and Meghalaya during the last week of December 2016. Thanks to Mr. Bornav of Greener Pastures and Mr. Biswajit (driver cum guide) we had one of the best trips ever. I highly recommend Greener Pastures to all traveling to northeast… especially with family.
Kudos to Vaivhav and team, especially Bamin Baro our guide and now friend 🙂
We had a great trip and simply loved every experience in the week we spent in Assam n Meghalaya.
Can’t wait to explore the rest of North East again!
I would like say thank you for the perfect organization of the tour; we liked very much and we think it is a very interesting tour. Thank you also for the good guide (Kevin) and driver (Digen) you gave us, they are competent and serious. So thank you and I hope to come back soon.
I have just returned from a festival based photography trip to Assam, Arunachal and Nagaland on a trip organized by Greener Pastures. Highlights of my trip were Majuli Island, the spring festival of the Apatani people, Tawang Monastery, and the Aoling festival in Nagaland. My guide Kevin was knowledgeable and especially helpful in arranging for me to photograph the people we met along the way. Driver Jantu made our journey as comfortable and safe as possible. He even invited us to his house for dinner on the last night of our visit. All the accommodations, meals, and services provided by Greener Pastures exceeded expectations. From the time they picked us up at the Jorhat airport to the time they dropped us off at Dibrugarh airport we had a wonderful time and fully expect to be back in Northeast India again with them to see more tribes and festivals.
I enjoyed the second trip, 28 September-7 October ’15, Greener Pastures arranged for me to Majuli and Arunachal Pradesh, as much as I enjoyed the first in April. Between the two trips, I have covered East & West Kameng, Tawang, Lower and Upper Subansiri, and West and East Siang. This was made possible by the planning and logistics you guys put together and my guide extraordinaire, Bamin Baro. But there is still so much more to see. I look forward to making trip out to at least Mechuka in the future. Cheers.
Our trip was really fantastic! We all enjoyed this beautiful and exotic region of India. It didn’t really feel like India, though, and we could really feel the influence of Bhutan, Tibet and Myanmar.
The highlight was Boroland, Manas NP and the trip to the Bhutanese border, including a walk into Bhutan. The scenery was outstanding and the wilderness of Manas simply great. Also, Nameri NP was quite surprising for us. We didn’t expect much but were rewarded with a very nice and wild walk and a smooth rafting on the river. We were lucky and could see the Himalaya mountain range in the morning sun. Simply breathtaking.
Kaziranga was unfortunately very touristic and hectic. Also too much civilisation and dirt/rubbish close to the park border. Didin’t feel wild at all, but taking into consideration that Indian holidays and weekend was one reason. It was too commercial. But still a great experience in terms of wildlife viewing. Unfortunately we were not lucky with a tiger or leopard, but otherwise saw a lot!
We had beautiful weather with bright warm sunny days but really early dark evenings and cold nights. This was some extra experience but luckily we got hot water bottles in the lodges 🙂
Niv was an excellent guide!!! Very knowledgable and great organizer. Very recommendable.
Lots of thanks to Vaivhav jee at Greener Pastures! I had a great time in Assam with very nice guides. It’s not easy especially for foreigners to visit a place not familiar with on their own, but Greener Pastures lets us just enjoy the trip.
I’d like to come and see them soon!
Dear Vaivhav,
After some 36 hours of travel Ann and I are back home in California and recovering from our wonderful trip to NorthEast India. We want to thank you so much for designing the trip which met and surpassed our expectations and desires. We have traveled extensively for many years, and I can assure you that you have given us experiences we have never had before and which we shall always remember. There are so many special things for which we are grateful: the roomy and comfortable SUV, some of the tastiest Indian food ever, the chance to keep our tourist dollars in India, meeting your friendly countrymen (and women). We are grateful for the patience and competence of Baro, whom you chose to guide us for over a month. As I told him, we spent more time with him and Kamal than with our own sons. And speaking of Kamal, he was a masterful driver, always there with an immaculate car (sometimes he would have to clean it up two or three times a day), whose skill in what I would term impossible situations astounded both of us. His personality and sense of humor added much to the trip.
Thank you for making the effort to share chai with us. It was a pleasure to meet you and discuss your goals. We wish you the best in your desire to promote eco tourism and share your remarkable part of India with others.
I suspect that, at 66 years of age, I am rather older than the average customer of Greener Pastures and was probably seeking a slightly different sort of package to those of your typical younger, back-packing /trekking clients. Nevertheless, you responded to my needs excellently and gave me a hugely rewarding and memorable experience. I would be very happy to recommend Greener Pastures to any would-be traveller in NE India and have acknowledged you and placed a link to your website on the own blog of my trip.
In Feb this year (2017) we went on a tour of Eastern Arunachal Pradesh and extended it with a trek in the Namdapha national park to give a total of 17 days. We booked through Greener Pastures who did a superb job of arranging the trip for us and gave us a holiday which will provide memories we will cherish. We are still amazed that we have been able to see something of the far North East of India as we are now aged 76 and 80. Organizing our trek in Namdapha tiger reserve was incredible – the experience of walking and camping in that forest was something we will greatly treasure.
We were provided with a brilliant guide in Baro (Bamin Baro) who lived in the zero valley and knew the are very well and helped to get close to the local people. Our driver, Jantu, was superb and kept us feeling safe on the road journeys. We would like to thank both Baro and Jantu for being such good companions on the trip and teaching us so much about the area.
The organization of the trip was very flexible so the type of accommodation was adjusted to cater for our preference for homesteads over hotels. All the accommodation was excellent, comfortable and friendly and allowed us to sample local food.
In conclusion we would like to highly recommend Greener Pastures to anyone wishing to explore this little visited part of India.
The trip was really good, and guide Baro was specifically very, very helpful. He understood the nature of my trip very well, and he helped me explore the entire island and meet people who I can keep in touch with for future research purposes. I am an anthropologist and so I will be making multiple trips to Majuli. I will be in the North east a lot in the next two years, and I hope to be in touch with Greener Pastures to explore other areas.
This review has been long due (I completed my trip in February 2016); I’ll try my best and make up for it.
I had opted for a slightly customized, 8-day tour of the East Khasi Hills, including stays at Cherrapunjee, Nongriat, Shnongpdeng, and Mawlynnong villages. This was my first visit to the northeast (and to east India for that matter), and all the folks at and with Greener Pastures (Vaivhav, Bornav, Kishor, and Embor) really ensured I had a great time. This was what I would call a perfect holiday–with long drives, comfortable stay, arduous but rewarding treks to remote and unspoiled natural sights, excellent touristy sightseeing, new experiences, insightful interactions with locals, and some lasting friendships.
Need I say more! Greener Pastures is a great find and an awesome institution if you’re serious about ecotourism. Keep up the great work, y’all! Cheers
The trip was truly lovely. Through the five days, our driver cum trek guide Mr. Kishor was extremely courteous and co-operative ; he was very enthusiastic to explore some new places along with us! All the arrangements were perfect; we could easily make some tweaks in the itinerary and customize the trip to our taste. The stay was also good, all the hotels were very clean and quite spacious with all standard amenities. And the most important part- the place itself – Meghalaya is truly one of the most beautiful places I have visited so far! The whole ride through the hills was in itself a serene experience. It was exciting to explore all the places through short treks and hikes and to be able to literally touch the clouds!! Streams of water gushing through almost any narrow gap that the hills present, the numerous waterfalls, caves and of course the man made wonder that is the living root bridges – its truly a place worth exploring ! Looking forward to exploring more of North East with your team soon !
Namdapha was very special…Coming out of a three day trek in dense green jungle-terrain it was spectacular to arrive at the river bank and get the side of the lower himalayan mountain-range and to meet this beautiful guy on an elephant inviting us to rest at his house.. Never forget it…
With Vaivhav´s way of handling things, of exploring, one might end up in situations which were not planned but are part of the adventure. Those adventures are being lived and cherished from him as much as yourself. One is literally ‘together’ in this. So we would improvise a lot, which was mandatory in those remote areas , like Namdapha. He is a young, easy going guy who will continue to grow on experience, being fascinated by his own country, especially the blank spots on it…
We recently completed an incredible adventure in Arunachal Pradesh in North East India. We were drawn to the area because of the little known trek that takes you to the Tibetan Buddhist pilgrimage area known as Pemako and Danakosha – the “Heart of the World” where Padmasambhava hid many treasures and scrolls when he traveled through this area in the 12th century.
Our trek was a fundraiser to support Tibetan refugees who are coming from Arunachal Pradesh to Canada as part of an Indian/ Canadian initiative to allow 1000 Tibetan refugees to resettle in Canada.
Looking for adventure that is off the edge of the map, this is it! This part of India is rarely visited by Westerners and you travel through villages and country-side that is untouched by the modern world.
Our outfitter, Greener Pastures, and their experienced guides with their local knowledge and contacts were essential to the success of the trip. Through our guides, we were immersed in the native Adi tribes and the local Tibetan community.
With good intentions and merit, a pilgrim in Pemako learns to see the world differently, bringing him closer to the virtues of wisdom and compassion.
Thank you for giving me such a great tour. Cardo was a great guide and looked after me very well and Manab was the perfect driver for the trip. They dealt with the problem with the dates of the permit very well by filling in the extra days with the trip to Mon so that I could still get all the days I had paid for. All together it was a great trip with the perfect team.
We had a once in a lifetime experience with the hills and tribal cultures of Nagaland, made possible by the excellent organization of Vaivhav and the staff of Greener Pastures.
Our guide Kevin, an Angami tribesman and driver could not have been better.