Ziro sits at about 1,500 metres in Arunachal Pradesh, a flat green bowl ringed by pine-covered hills. The Apatani people have farmed it for centuries, and the way they farm it is the reason it is on a UNESCO tentative list.
They grow rice and fish in the same flooded field. Channels move water from plot to plot; bunds hold it; fish live in the water that the rice is growing in. The fish eat larvae and weeds, their waste feeds the crop, and nothing is wasted. There are no terraces cut by machines and no chemical fertiliser in the traditional system.
What to see. The villages — Hong, Hari, Bamin-Michi — are the real attraction, with bamboo houses raised on platforms and grain stores set apart from the homes in case of fire. Walk the fields in the early morning when the mist is still sitting on them.
When to go. March to May, or September to October. If you want the Ziro Festival of Music, that falls in late September — beautiful, but the valley is far busier.
Getting there. Fly or take the train to Naharlagun, then roughly four to five hours by road. Indian visitors need an Inner Line Permit, which is straightforward to obtain online.
One request. Ask before photographing people. The older Apatani women have distinctive facial tattoos and nose plugs from a practice now discontinued, and they are not a tourist attraction.
