The road from Zunheboto to Mokokchung turned out to be considerably better than the road from Kohima to Zunheboto and we arrived in no time. My friend Albert was there waiting in his taxi and he drove us straight to Auntie Apollo’s Guesthouse “Tushi’s Cottage”. There we met Akok and Auntie’s husband and this being my third visit, it was like coming home. The only difference between this visit and previous ones was the nice warm temperature of Mokokchung which greeted us plus the bright sunlight.


After welcoming tea and parathas we settled down to a fabulous chicken meal with vegetables, dal, rice and lots of pickle and chilli . Akok and I planned an itinerary for the next few days and then I got a call from Sunita (whom I met at Nino’s last year during the Hornbill) who said she would join us for the trip to Watching and the Aoling Festival.


The next morning was leisurely and I enjoyed a slow morning catching up with some chores and writing my blog. For lunch Langa and I caught a shared taxi into town and revisited all the handicraft shops I remembered from before plus the restaurant in the shopping complex on the second floor called “Shop 65”. “I call my restaurant Shop 65 because it is shop number 65”, answered the lady owner who recalled my visit with Dieter and Dominique in 2013. “No foreigners since,” she said, which is a shame as the Momos are great and fresh here.


Back at Tushi’s cottage, Albert arrived and we left to visit two villages in the south of the Ao region. The first was Longkhum which was on the way to our eventual destination. This crowded but attractive hill top town featured in that documentary I had enjoyed so much about the Nagas which was screened at the Hornbill Festival last year by the Kohima institute. Akok was keen to introduce me to the son of a famous Ao inventor who lived in this village. His father had spent his life inventing gadgets and household appliances . Unfortunately he had passed away some years before but his workshop, carpentry studio and many of his inventions had been preserved by his son.


The house was sandwiched between others on a side road in the suburbs. It was wooden with a tin roof, but once inside its uniqueness was very apparent. All the doors had unique handles and the kitchen was very different in layout to what I had usually experienced in the Ao district. Here the fire was in the centre of the room and next to it was the wash basin. The intriguing part was that the griddle across the fire had been replaced by pipes. Through this was fed water by gravity which was then heated and sent to the wash basin. Simple and effective, this struck me as a remarkable idea which to my knowledge had never been replicated. We also saw some other items including an orange harvester (hand held) and took time seeing the tiny carpentry room.


Out the back of village, Akok showed us the area where the old sacred stones lay . Like the stones I had seen in Longsa some 14 months ago, these sacred stones were hugely significant in the Ao’s animistic beliefs before the arrival of Christianity. However it was the setting here that was so memorable. A natural tiny rocky escarpment lead down from the village toward the valley floor surrounded by tall pine trees and moss covered vegetation and rocks. The setting amber sun bathed the whole area in a warm golden light and the ambiance was memorable. The main sacred stones were nearest to the village, not from the cluster of wooden stilted granary stores. These stones were much larger than those I remember seeing at Longsa and were now neglected and overgrown. Further down were the stones where legend had it that the Naga version of Romeo & Juliet had rested and there were many marks on the rocks that represented their reclining bodies. On the opposite side were monoliths erected as sacred walk progressed downhill. It was very interesting in a very tranquil and beautiful setting.


Albert collected us at the bottom and moved on a tiny dirt track through the forest to rejoin the main road leading to Mangmetong. Here we arrived and immediately met Amon’s father, the coffee farmer. Amon had been intrigued by the charity coffee I had shown him which was grown in Nagaland and made by Heka in Dimapur (with all profits going to her Little Lights Orphanage in Dimapur) . Amon was keen that I met his father in Mangmetong when I was there because he thought I would be interested. His father was certainly a friendly man who immediately took me down the sides of the hillside town to his property settled in amongst trees. Below his wooden house there was a large plot which was not just devoted to coffee but several other crops. I went around with Akok, Langa plus Albert and heard his story. It transpired that far from my original assumption that there were no coffee growers in Nagaland, there were actually over 15 in the village alone. Here the farmers had been approached by some middle men supplying the large coffee producers in Southern India. These middle men had established an office in Mokokchung and persuaded the 15 farmers to plant coffee on their properties. They supplied a tiny amount of financial assistance (about US $35 each), but little or no advice. Consequently the coffee was planted all over the property and also under the trees (which these people suggested). The local issue of the lack of water for agriculture was never addressed, however each farmer was informed that his coffee was high quality and was paid a pittance for a kilo. Considering my new found appreciation of Heka’s coffee this was behaviour seemed at best exploitative and greedy. I agreed to stay in touch with Amon’s father.


As we left the village and climbed the hills in Albert’s tiny Maruti car, the mountain climb proved too much and the car overheated . We parked up in the forest amid the musical cicadas and waited for someone to stop with some water. Sure enough one kindly driver did, but by then the warmth of our engine had attracted some huge hornets out of the forest which dive bombed us and hung around the steaming engine. Eventually we got the car going but these insects then started to settle into the car through the open windows and it took some manly flapping at these creatures to persuade them to leave.


We succeeded on returning to Tushi’s Cottage and Albert promised to get the car fixed before the next day’s excursion to Longsa. Again I don’t like revising places I have already seen but the opportunity of meeting a WW2 veteran was not one to be missed. Akok set it all up and Albert arrived at 9.00am after been given the all clear by the mechanic.


The road up to Longsa’s Village was certainly better than I remember, but still was a bit broken and muddy down by the river. Here someone had constructed an eco lodge on one side and another person had built a piggery opposite. That was a somewhat interesting combination. Again Albert’s Maruti started struggling on the long road up to the village which was in the process of getting a major renovation.


About 500 metres south of town, it gave up in a cloud of steam and we had to walk up the rest of the step incline by foot. Again the villagers were just so friendly immediately inviting me in for tea. But we had an appointment to keep so on we went up. We passed the sports field which I recalled from my previous visit before entering the old village centre. It was here that I learnt that the husband of the old lady I had met some 14 months ago, who had sung to Dominique, Dieter and myself (see previous blog) had passed away recently. His wife was now living with her children but was giving away her personal possessions to her relatives and preparing for her own passing.


We passed their old house en route to meet Mr Sosangtemba Longkumer Ao. He was a sprightly 97 years old and positively leapt out of bed to greet me with a big smile. He gripped my hand in a long handshake as Akok introduced me as British. He certainly seemed to relish my visit, getting so animated in his answers to my questions about his war experiences that his stories started jumping from one subject to another. Soon his medals were coming out, his beautiful elder’s Ao shawl and all his old Naga necklaces and spears. (Please see extra blog for details about his war stories).


In between our chats we ascertained that Albert’s car was not going anywhere else and we had to arrange for Akok’s brother in Law to meet Sunita on here arrival from Kohima. Nevertheless our time with Mr Sosangtemba Longkumer Ao just flew by and his recollections were so interesting. Akok mentioned that even his family really had no idea what he had done in the war.


Eventually with the replacement car arriving, we had to leave. He allowed me to take some photographs and we left for a quick tea with Akok’s parents in the centre of the village. Akok also showed me a pleasant guesthouse which was competitively priced opposite his parents house. We eventually met up with Sunita some four hours later than planned and then discovered that Albert’s car had miraculously perked up and was now back in Mokokchung.


We had a great final evening with Akok, Auntie and everyone with some more tasty food. The next morning we left early for Longleng.