7 Things to Do in Khonoma, India's First Green Village and Nagaland's Last Warrior Village

Khonoma sits about 20 kilometres west of Kohima in Nagaland, a roughly 700-year-old Angami Naga village that spent much of the 19th century resisting British colonial expansion, most notably through the extended Battle of Khonoma of 1879-80. Long known as the region's "last warrior village," it has since become something else entirely: in 2005, Khonoma was declared India's first Green Village, after residents voluntarily banned hunting and logging across a large stretch of surrounding forest. Here's how to spend a day or two there.

1. Walk the Khonoma Nature Conservation and Tragopan Sanctuary

Established in 1998 after the village banned hunting across roughly 20 square kilometres of surrounding forest, the sanctuary protects the Blyth's tragopan, Nagaland's state bird, along with other pheasants and forest wildlife. Marked trails run through the reserve, and guided walks with local homestay hosts are the easiest way to see it properly.

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2. Trace the stone forts and battle sites

Khonoma's fortified past is still visible in the remains of Semomo and Theramomo forts, stone structures built to withstand the British campaigns of the 1870s and 1880s. Semomo Fort carries a memorial to Angami warriors who died defending the village, a piece of history most visitors encounter here rather than in any museum.

3. Walk through the terraced paddy and alder fields

The village is built around an unusually old system of terraced wet-rice cultivation combined with alder-tree agroforestry, in which villagers coppice alder trees to fertilise and shade the paddy fields below. Walking the terraces, particularly in the growing season, shows a farming system that has sustained the village for generations without expanding into the protected forest.

4. Stay in a village homestay

Khonoma's green-tourism push has produced a network of homestays run directly by village families, offering Angami meals and, often, a host who can talk through the village's shift from hunting to conservation firsthand. It's a more direct way into the place than a day trip from Kohima allows.

5. Look for the old morungs alongside the village churches

Khonoma's traditional morungs, dormitory-like structures once used to house and train unmarried young men in Angami custom, still stand alongside the village's Baptist churches, a visible layering of pre-Christian Naga tradition and the Christianity most of Nagaland adopted from the late 19th century onward.

6. Try khuzu and other Angami dishes

Angami cuisine built around smoked pork, fermented bamboo shoot and axone (fermented soybean) is generally served in village homestays rather than restaurants, and Khonoma is a reasonable place to try it in something close to a home setting.

7. Combine it with Dzükou Valley or Kohima

Khonoma sits within reach of the Dzükou Valley trek and Kohima's own war cemetery and state museum, making it easy to fold into a wider Nagaland loop rather than treat as an isolated stop.

Traveller tips

• Khonoma is about 20 kilometres, roughly 45 minutes to an hour, from Kohima by road.
• Inner Line Permit requirements for domestic and foreign visitors to Nagaland should be checked and arranged before travel.
• December's Hornbill Festival period near Kohima is the busiest time to visit the wider region; the village itself stays quiet year-round.
• Homestays are the primary accommodation option; book ahead through Kohima-based tour operators or directly with village contacts.