Eastern Routes is among the handful of Northeast based RT experiential travel operators that is attempting to showcase the cultural and ecological riches of the region, while ensuring that tourism benefits locals and does not adversely impact the social or natural environment.
While the outfit is based in Meghalaya, it organises tours across all seven Northeastern states. It offers over 50 carefully curated itineraries, ranging from shorter tours of less than a week focused on one region/locale or a festival to longer tours of almost a month that cover multiple states in the Northeast.
The tours cover a wide variety of experiences, like local cuisine, festivals, handicrafts, wildlife and trekking. The 'Adventure and Jungle with the Apatani in Arunachal Pradesh' is a 14-day trekking and camping trip that takes travellers up mountains, down valleys and across rivers and it also focuses on jungle survival skills like learning to find drinking water in the wild or starting a campfire without matches. The '7 Sisters Road Trip', on the other hand, is a 26-day mega tour of all the Northeastern states—truly a trip of a lifetime. Considering Eastern Routes restricts group sizes to 10 people, draws its guides from local communities, accommodates guests in local homestays whenever possible and exposes guests to local home cooking, these tours promise to be intimate and immersive affairs.
While this bouquet of itineraries offers a great deal of choice to travellers, Eastern Routes also does fully customised tours tailored completely to the needs and requirements of travellers.
The travel company also offers a number of day tours in Guwahati, Kaziranga NP, Shillong, Majuli, Kohima, Bomdilla, Ziro, Dirang and Tawang for those on short visits.
Price: From Rs 5,000 per person per day
Read more: https://easternroutes.com/
Slow Travel
Eastern Routes act as goodwill ambassadors of the Northeast and their journeys highlight local culture, nature and cuisine. The travel group sizes are restricted to 10 and the guides are all local. The outfit tries to accommodate guests in local homestays whenever possible and organises meals at local homes or small eateries. The outfit also ensures their trips do not leave behind waste. It has banned elephant safaris during its tours as elephant domestication involves abuse.