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25 Thars from Bangalore go on an off-road expedition to Nagaland

18th February 2024, 14:05 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

While 11 owners decided to transport their Mahindra SUVs through trucks, the rest of them formed small groups and decided to start earlier and explore the North East.

BHPian karthikd21 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

"I have found a new passion to work the whole year to earn a well-deserved reward in the form of a yearly group expedition!" This has been the mantra of our group Thar-Bengaluru since the time we started the "Yearly Expedition" concept 2 years ago.

Last year, it was an expedition to Spiti (36 Thars and a Winter Wonderland) thread by @turbonath. While Spiti was the inaugural expedition in search of Snow, this year we wanted to up the ante to make the best use of what Thar is designed for! So, it was Nagaland.

Disclaimer: Permissions for all the trails inside forest and waterbodies were duly obtained from the local authorities by the expedition organizers

A teaser of what to expect

Prelude

Expedition bug once caught cannot be overcome, ever! After an amazing Spiti drive, every one of us was eagerly looking forward to the announcement of the upcoming adventure. In the last 2 years, our love towards off-roading had increased multifold and so had our level of confidence in our Thars' performance. Given this, it was obvious that as an adventure-focused group, we wanted off-roading as the main criteria surrounding the expedition. Although there were a few options like Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Nagaland, it was decided that the expedition would be to explore the unexplored Nagaland as it meets our core need.

Planning

With 25 Thars and 45 people signed up, planning itself becomes a daunting task! Since the plan was to explore deep inside, there were a lot of initial apprehensions around the accommodation, food and most importantly safety. Off-roading is very much supported by the local authorities in Nagaland and we zeroed in on an organizer called 4x4 Attitude. This turned out to be one of the best decisions we had undertaken (more on that later). While 11 of the Thar owners decided to transport the Thars through Trucks to Guwahati, the rest of them formed small groups and decided to start earlier and explore the North East in a greater length.

High level plan

Dec 25th: Reach Guwahati and unload Thars
Dec 26th: Journey to Dimapur where the expedition would actually begin the next day
Dec 27th: Dimapur to Wokha through off-beaten path
Dec 28th: Trail day around Wokha, coffee tasting at Lithanro Coffee estate and reach Mokokchung
Dec 29th: Reach Longwa, Indo Myanmar border
Dec 30th: Endurance drive to reach Zunheboto
Dec 31st: River trail and reach Touphema, New Year Party
Jan 1st: Conquer Kopamadzhu Peak, camp
Jan 2nd: Visit Kohima War Memorial, Green Village Khonoma and reach Benreu Tourist Village
Jan 3rd: Trail around Peren and camp
Jan 4th: Reach back to Guwahati, local shopping and stay the night
Jan 5th: Load Thars to truck and fly back to Bengaluru

With us going to be exploring deep inside Nagaland, the organizers had their homework cut out to recce every weekend to mark the route and book accommodations. Thanks to WhatsApp, a big group was able to socialize and get to know each other through hilarious chat sessions, Q&A sessions (thanks to our beloved BHPian @airguitar), announcements by the expedition leads which kept us all on the toes in anticipation of the D-Day.

My wife needs a reason to shop! Last year in anticipation of the nail-biting cold, This year was snack and camping-related. She shopped ferociously and also prepared a lot of homemade ready-to-eat mixes as we had to feed our 10 and 13-year-old kids. Upma mix, Poha Mix, Puliyogre you name it, she had it!

Home Made

Store Bought

While some got busy shopping for food, proud owners of Thars preferred making them ready for the expedition!

Aux/Bumper lights/Mounts in anticipation of fog

Jerry Cans

Thanks to @robimahanta for helping me with his Jerry can (not in the pic)

I got my differential breathers extended to under the bonnet in anticipation of water crossing

This is how a happy shopper looks like, Suchitra Bhide upon getting delivery of his Mad-dog aux fog lights

First Flag-Off

11-Dec: Thanks to Madhus Tyre Center for supporting us by hosting us for a flag-off. Had a great chat with Nikhil over coffee and cookies! We had to load our Thars to trucks the next day!

My Thar getting ready for flag-off

At Madhus

With Nikhil

Flag-Off

What followed the flag-off was our tradition of photo-op/flag-off at the Iconic Vidhanasoudha, a sumptuous breakfast at the Jayamahal Palace Hotel and a briefing by the expedition leads.

12 Dec

Finally sent off our Thars to Guwahati with repentance over not having the time at hand to drive all the way. 2 trucks were parked at Nice road exit near PES college and 11 Thars were loaded.

As our wait began for Dec 25th which is when we would fly into Guwahati, a few other groups started their adventure early and hit Arunachal Pradesh. Some random clicks from their trip

Snow at Arunachal