[Sujoy76]

Originally Posted by dhanushmenon

Thank you very much sir. Really glad and humbled that you liked it. Please do take the liberty to trouble me when you plan Tawang, if I can help in anyway possible.
(I travelled in 2016 though. My inputs may he outdated though).

Still, whatever I could help

Thank you sir.

I'll surely trouble you before planning my trip for Tawang

Regards

[Nissan1180]

I am facing a strange issue while applying for an online ILP for Tawang. One application got rejected- a message directing me to call up an office in Guwahati. That number was not reachable.

It seems like many people have faced the same issue.

Someone on tripadvisor mentioned that the government in Arunachal is only allowing tours with registered tour operators and it is not issuing permits to individual travelers. Is this true? Good conducted tours are very expensive (almost 40-50k per person).

Is it worth the effort to apply again and wait for another 3 days before cancelling the plan?

[Red Liner]

FYI

Please check current weather reports before making any kind of travel plan. Tawang is facing lots of weather turbulence and snow.

[sayakc]

As of January 2021, I can confirm that the government in Arunachal is only allowing tours with registered tour operators and it is not issuing permits to individual travelers. You cannot even take your own vehicle - all of which is due to Covid restrictions.

For the current condition you may try to reach out to Mr. Chakraborty of Arunachal Bhawan, Kolkata at 9830822512.

Best Regards,
Sayak

Originally Posted by Nissan1180

I am facing a strange issue while applying for an online ILP for Tawang. One application got rejected- a message directing me to call up an office in Guwahati. That number was not reachable.

It seems like many people have faced the same issue.

Someone on tripadvisor mentioned that the government in Arunachal is only allowing tours with registered tour operators and it is not issuing permits to individual travelers. Is this true? Good conducted tours are very expensive (almost 40-50k per person).

Is it worth the effort to apply again and wait for another 3 days before cancelling the plan?

[//M]

Originally Posted by sayakc

As of January 2021, I can confirm that the government in Arunachal is only allowing tours with registered tour operators and it is not issuing permits to individual travelers. You cannot even take your own vehicle - all of which is due to Covid restrictions.

For the current condition you may try to reach out to Mr. Chakraborty of Arunachal Bhawan, Kolkata at 9830822512.

Best Regards,
Sayak

I think this is no more the case now, as of March 2021.

I am saying this as couple of my riding buddies from NCR rode to Western Arunachal as well as Eastern Arunachal on their own motorcycles in March. I am pretty sure they did not plan the journey through any tour operator. They had applied for two ILPs, one for Western part of Arunachal (entry from Balemu, exit from Bhalukpong) and another for eastern part (entry from Sadiya side and exit from Tezu / Sunpura side).

Even fellow member Red Liner rode to Arunachal last month. However, I am not sure if he had planned the trip on his own or through any tour operator. He may elaborate more on this.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by //M

I think this is no more the case now, as of March 2021.

I am saying this as couple of my riding buddies from NCR rode to Western Arunachal as well as Eastern Arunachal on their own motorcycles in March. I am pretty sure they did not plan the journey through any tour operator. They had applied for two ILPs, one for Western part of Arunachal (entry from Balemu, exit from Bhalukpong) and another for eastern part (entry from Sadiya side and exit from Tezu / Sunpura side).

Even fellow member Red Liner rode to Arunachal last month. However, I am not sure if he had planned the trip on his own or through any tour operator. He may elaborate more on this.

Sorry, just chanced on this.

Yes, our trip was planned by a fellow BHPian and that was it. After that we met locals along the way who fine tuned our next couple of days. Actually, they completely turned our plans over our heads Our ILP was done online by ourselves.

We spent a cool month in Arunachal with about 3-4 days of total resting days. Every other day was spent riding

[//M]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

We spent a cool month in Arunachal with about 3-4 days of total resting days. Every other day was spent riding

Wow eagerly awaiting some pics and a report of the journey.

While most travel information is readily available for Western Arunachal, there is certainly some lack of awareness on other parts of Arunachal regarding route options / stay options etc. Would request you to pen down a travelogue or a report as it will immensely help other readers.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by //M

Wow eagerly awaiting some pics and a report of the journey.

While most travel information is readily available for Western Arunachal, there is certainly some lack of awareness on other parts of Arunachal regarding route options / stay options etc. Would request you to pen down a travelogue or a report as it will immensely help other readers.

Roughly, this is the route we took:

Bhalukpong-Seppa-Ziro-Aalo-Menchuka-Aalo-Yinkiong-Roing-Walong-Namsai. This is about 2000 kms of travel within Arunachal.

We couldn't do Tuting and Anini due to bike issues for my riding buddy. Honestly don't think we missed a great deal apart from possibly battering ourselves and our bikes on some really rough shod roads. Rains also made an early appearance, and in Arunachal if it rains you are stuck where you are for days together until roads ahead and behind open up. Our permits were for a month and we were fast approaching our end dates. We also skipped Tawang because of crazy snowfall all the way until the end of our permit making it a no go this time.

For the next trip, we have a few points to go to. Tawang, Anini, and Tuting. I have made available a personal 4*4 Bolero with a top class driver who is also a BHPian

The report might take some time. I am not back yet lol.

[BhaskarG]

Originally Posted by dhanushmenon

...

I found this thread digging through some old travelogues.

Thanks a ton. We need more of such super informative, concise and helpful threads like this one in the forum. Worth 5-star rating. Awesome.

[swsumit]

Dear Dhanush,

This thread, I would say is one of the most clearly defined threads in the Tawang sector. I must compliment you on your photo skills as well. I have a query if you could help me out :

1. I plan the standard Bum La circuit, including Sagestsar lake on a single day. As per the norm, I would do the permit the previous day, valid only for next day.
2. I wish to drive to sangetsar lake again the following day and then continue to Zemithang. So do I again need to apply for permits for sangetsar lake? Also, I think Zemithang also needs a permit.
So I need a spare day between Sl 1 & 2 to make the permits again? This puts me in a kind of tricky situation as now I need to allot a complete day just for permits. Any method to work around this problem

thanks
Sumit