EAT YOUR HEART OUT TOURS
I have gone to many beautiful places across the globe, but I must say that the northeast of our country is the best-kept secret in the world." — Adnan Sami
Discover a lush and remote corner of India
Come for the tribal textiles, silks, jewellery, and festivals. Come back with wonder for this tranquil, undiscovered part of India.
Assam - shaped by a 600 year-old medieval kingdom to present-day tea estates, charming Majuli Island, and Kaziranga National Park, home to one-horned rhinos, wild boar, tigers, elephants and panthers. The glistening silks of Assam, eri and muga, speak of a legacy of luxury and functionality.
Nagaland - nestled within dense rainforest or in cities, seventeen indigenous communities continue to flourish, proudly draped in their iconic geometric shawls. A highlight on this tour: the Hornbill Festival.
Meghalaya - abundant monsoons, waterfalls, and hills create a lush abode for local communities that celebrate their brilliantly engineered root bridges and crafts of outstanding basketry.
The stage is set: farm to table meals, lush jungles of Nameri, ever changing banks of the Brahmaputra, thrilling Kaziranga, rolling hills of Nagaland, exquisite textiles, intricate Meghlaya bamboo baskets, arts, crafts, and traditional dance and music. Just some of the experiences on this thoughtfully curated tour.
Highlights
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Multiple textile encounters: Eri (peace) and Muga silks, Gamusa weaving, Naga weaving, weaving and natural dye workshops
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Indigenous dance and music at the Hornbill Festival
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Celebrated national parks: Kaziranga for one-horned rhino and Nameri for avian, tiger, and leopard sightings
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Crafts: Basket weaving, mask making, manuscript painting, pottery
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Living root bridges and sacred groves of Meghalaya
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Assamese tea tasting
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Culinary experience with local Assamese chef
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Proud warrior traditions of the Naga people in hillside villages
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Sustainable interdependence with nature in award-winning Khonoma village
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Majuli - world's largest riverine island, time wrapped in artistic and cultural traditions
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Vibrant local markets, including night markets
Testimonials
Your tour was truly special--very different from other tours I have taken. It enabled us to experience life as it plays out every day in villages, towns, and cities, interacting with people threshing rice, selling goods in rural markets, weaving, creating objects out of bell metal, celebrating a good harvest, etc. The tour encompassed a wide range of activities from conversing with rural people, watching various artisans practice their crafts, visiting World Heritage sites, witnessing living traditions. I hope to travel with you again in the coming years and will tell my various traveling companions about your tours as well. - Christine Brown
I am happy to provide the highest reference for Shila and her tours. Actually I have taken two—one this year and one last year. And I plan to continue traveling with her. - Carolyn Wollen
***SMALL GROUP as always***
18 wonder-filled days
Includes
Led by EYHO tour leader and textile expert, Anvi Shah
Fully escorted by experienced English-speaking local guides
Multiple hands on textile workshops in weaving, natural dyeing
Multiple textile, arts and crafts demos
All workshop fees, materials, and instructions
Signature experiences: bee-keeping, tea-tasting, fruit-wine and cheese tasting, mask-making, manuscript painting, hand-beaten village pottery
Accommodations in Western-style hotels and best available family run guesthouses
All transportation in private air-conditioned vehicles. Local ferry ride
Daily breakfast, multiple hosted lunches and dinners
Excludes
International flight, tipping for guide, and beverages at meals unless specified, insurance, early and late check in/out
What to expect
Textile immersion
Assam's cherished silks: Eri (peace) and Muga, most precious of silk filaments woven into the treasured mekhela chador that every Assamese woman covets. Trace the silks to sericulture ooperations. Weaving and natural dyeing workshops. Indigenous ethnic weavings and the traditions behind each.
Folk arts and crafts
Intimate encounters with artisans of basket weaving, generational mask making, hand-beaten pottery, manuscript painting are some of the unique folk arts and crafts on this tour. We will have a chance to try our hand at several, learn alongside artisans, and swap stories and notes.
Living Root Bridges of Meghalaya
Trek to a living root bridge, a natural wonder formed by training the aerial roots of rubber trees to grow into sturdy bridges that look like something out of a fairy tale. Sustainable suspension bridges nurtured by the Khasi and Jaintia tribes grow stronger over time and last over 500 years
Hornbill Festival
Nagaland’s 16+ indigenous tribes come together to share their traditions in a spectacle unlike any other—the Hornbill Festival, or "Festival of Festivals". Expect vibrant traditional costumes and dances,, "morungs" (traditional huts), and local cuisine. Two full days to make friends and immerse in indigenous traditions
Time wrapped Majuli Island
A mystical place wrapped in rich history and culture, serene Majuli is one of the world's largest riverine islands in the middle of the mighty Brahmaputra. Often called the Soul of Assam for the Satras (ancient monasteries) that preserve dance, literature, bhaona (theatre), dance forms, mask making and boat-making.
Signature culinary experiences
Assamese tea tasting, a bee-keeping foray near Nameri, fruit wine and cheese tasting with Khasi flavours, and a cooking class with an Assamese chef are some of the curated experiences you'll enjoy. As always, EYHO tours are infused with daily culinary beats to deepen your journey.
Naga warrior culture and history
Learn about the proud warrior traditions of the Naga people and their resistance against colonial forces as you explore hillside villages like Khonoma. Award-winning Khonoma has transformed itself into a model sustainable village, successfully reviving traditional way of farming and land stewardship.
Wildlife
Double hit of Kaziranga NP, a success story in conservation of one-horned rhino, and Nameri NP's flourishing avian, tiger, and leopard populations. Witness how human societies co-exist with the wild, indeed embrace their place as part of the natural cycle.
Meet your tour leader
Anvi Shah is a fiber artist and maker from Pune, India, who specialises in beaded structures as well as embellished and embroidered surfaces. She graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a BFA in Fibers, and is certified in haute couture embroidery from Ecole Lesage in Paris. With a keen interest in craft and textiles, Anvi headed a research and revival project to preserve the dwindling craft of beadwork in Kutch, Gujarat. Anvi has dedicated her efforts to uplifting craftswomen and establishing new narratives within existing traditions.
A wanderer at heart, she draws inspiration from cultures of the world to allow her artistic practice to flourish in India and abroad.
Our travellers speak
Berle Driscoll, NY
Anvi is a wonderful host - knowledgeable, warm, generous with her own time and efforts to accommodate us all
Anvi is amazing. Well done on finding this gem.
-- Yulia Rothenberg, NYC
Anvi is a spectacular host and guide. Extremely helpful, welcoming, flexible, patient and knowledgeable. Nancy and I are not generally "tour people", but Anvi are made it worthwhile. Thank you so much for such a great host. - Nancy and John Manley, VA
Rekha K, Toronto
Anvi was a truly exceptional tour manager. She fostered a great relationship among the group. Knowledgeable, endlessly patient and cheerful, always available to deal with unexpected hurdles. She showcased her passion for food, textiles and jewelry by sacrificing her down time to organize trips to stores, restaurants and ice cream parlours. At the end of the trip Anvi kindly helped folks with their onward reservations and baggage issues. To me this was evidence of attention to detail and a genuine sense of responsibility.
Barbara Baruch, NYC
TThe diverse splendor of India — colors, richness of its textiles, contradictions from maharajas to farmers, palaces to thatched roof huts, encounters with delighted villagers . My first trip to India with EYHO surpassed my expectations. The tour was seamless, our accommodations and meals were excellent as was our incomparable knowledge, kindness, generosity and gracious calm of our tour manager Anvi.
Truly a trip of my lifetime.
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