Khonoma — the Angami village that fought the British and now guards its forest
What it is
Khonoma is a Western Angami village about 18.3 km and 37 minutes west of Kohima on our routing, a settlement of some 1,943 people on hillsides of terraced fields and forest. Its own name is Khwüno-ra, after a local plant.
Photos: Ly.n0m (CC BY-SA 4.0) — via Wikimedia Commons, resized.
The village that fought
From 1830 to 1880 the Angami warriors of Khonoma resisted the British. In October 1879 a British force came to the village to enforce a tax and forced labour and was ambushed; the political officer Guybon Henry Damant was among those killed. The British then besieged the village, which held out for four months until a treaty was signed on 27 March 1880, the last organised resistance of the Nagas against British rule.
The village that protects
In 1998, after 300 Blyth's tragopans, Nagaland's state bird, were killed in one week of a hunting contest, the village council closed about 20 km² of its forest to hunting. That forest is now the Khonoma Nature Conservation and Tragopan Sanctuary, and Wikipedia calls Khonoma the first green village in India.
Visiting
Walk the stone lanes and the square with its morungs, and ask before entering homes or photographing people. We have no verified rules for visitors to the sanctuary forest; ask the village first.
Combine it with
The two-day plan gives Khonoma its own day after the city. See the Kohima War Cemetery and read things to do in Kohima.
Plans that include this
All 2 plans that stop here →
Nearby places
All of Kohima →
Nearby destinations
All destinations →
Questions people ask
Why is Khonoma famous?
For two things. Its Angami warriors fought the British for decades, and in 1879–80 held out for four months before a peace treaty, the last organised Naga resistance. And since 1998 its council has protected about 20 km² of forest from hunting, for Blyth's tragopan; Wikipedia calls it India's first green village.
How far is Khonoma from Kohima?
About 18.3 km and 37 minutes by road on our routing; Wikipedia says about 20 km west of Kohima. It makes a half-day or a full day out with a walk through the village and its terraced fields. Ask in the village before walking into the forest or photographing people and homes.
What is Blyth's tragopan?
A pheasant and the state bird of Nagaland, endangered in India. In 1998, after 300 of them were killed in a single week of a hunting competition, Khonoma's village council banned hunting across about 20 km² of forest, which became the Khonoma Nature Conservation and Tragopan Sanctuary.