Kohima, Northeast Hill States, India

The entrepreneurial Ultimate Travelling Camp company has earned a reputation  for itself providing luxury accommodation in remote parts of India whose cultural riches have always been inaccessible due to the lack of local infrastructure. Each year, between late-November and mid-December, they erect a collection of beautiful, colonial-style canvas hunting tents in a patch of secluded forest at the foot of Japfu mountain, in the state of Nagaland. The reason: the nearby village plays host to the great annual celebration of Naga culture, the ‘Hornbill Festival’, when representatives of 16 Naga tribes gather to showcase their traditional dance, costume, music, handicrafts and martial arts. The event affords a glimpse of a way of life rarely experienced by outsiders, and one of the great spectacles of the Northeast. Spend an extra day or two in the camp and you’ll be able to visit a few Naga villages, meeting former head hunters who converted to Christianity in the wake of World War II, when the area was invaded by the Japanese. Memorials to the infamous battle of Kohima, the state capital, offer another memorable daytrip.