JYOTISH DUTTA

This July, 2017 I made another trip to Dzukou Valley, Nagaland. Unlike last year, I travelled very light this year, only a backpack with a small sleeping bag and a set of fresh clothes, sealed in zip bags . Photography gear wise, I was carrying my 5D mkII, canon 70-200mm f4, and the Fuji x100. For protection from rain I relied on my rain poncho.  And that just about it.  It took us 3 and a half hours from Vishwama to reach the basecamp in Dzukou valley. We spent 2 nights up there.  It rained most of the time with temperatures ranging between 18-20 Degrees at night. The weather in Dzukou has always been unpredictable, changing every few minutes. The only photographic opportunity we got was when the rain stopped. A gust of wind thinned the cloud cover enveloping the valley, allowing for the sun rays to diffuse through and lite up, rather selectively, the crests and troughs that comprise Dzukou. This time however I found plastics eve...

Got a call from a friend asking me if I would like to join them on a trip to Dzukou valley, Nagaland, as they needed one more person to make the trip happen; I jumped to the opportunity. The itinerary was a simple three day program. We started early on  11th June(June), boarding the 4AM inter city train from Jorhat to Dimapur. We reached Dimapur at 7.30 AM, had our breakfast and booked a tourist taxi to Kohima,  which is about a 2.30 hrs drive. Once in Kohima , we met with Roko and her Eastern Green Tours, and made our way to Viswema village and began our climb. We were informed that the trek from Viswema is comparatively easy with respect to that from jakhama village , which, though shorter(2-3hrs), was more steep . One hour into our climb and I realized how ill prepared I was.  A bag full of clothes that got wet, and thus heavy due to  non stop rains, made body balance and climbing difficult. Moreover, I was carrying too much camera equipment. After three ...