Shnongpdeng, Meghalaya Travel Guide and a Stay by the river

Shnongpdeng is a village 8kms further from Dawki located on the winding Umngot river. Shnongpdeng and Dawki is famous among tourist mainly for 2 reasons, adventure sports at the crystal clear water of Umngot river and India-Bangladesh border that goes across Umngot river.

Usually most people go to Dawki for a chill time at the campsite and enjoy the adventure sports. However, once we reached Dawki, we were glad to go ahead to Shnongpdeng as Dawki attracts way too many tourists. Shnongpdeng has relatively less tourist due to the further distance of 8kms, bad roads which will be extremely bad in monsoon, and far lesser campsites. So you need to book in advance or need to be lucky to get a instance spot.

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Things to do in Shnongpdeng

Stay options

Travel budget for two people

Things to do in Shnongpdeng

1. Bathe in the crystal clear water of Umngot river – Now one of the biggest draw for me to plan Shnongpdeng was undoubtedly the crystal clear water which I had seen on many reels. However, once I reached I realised there are specific season on when you see the Umngot river in the crystal clear glory. Winter season (November to February) – is when the river is most clear. Summer season (March to May) is when the water is sometimes clear and sometimes not as this region starts receiving pre-monsoon showers from mid March. We went in April and hence we could only see clear water in a nearby stream. Monsoon season (May to September) – the water will be brown as the monsoon water falling in the nearest waterfall brings along lot of mud and silt with it.

2. Experience a stay in camp or tent – Here we rented our Safari tents from Pioneer Adventure, which is one of the best facility in Shnongpdeng. Pioneer adventure provides tents for riverside camping and also has about 6 Safari tents which are bit more comfortable as they have proper beds. The camps and tents are overlooking Umngot river and provides perfect scenic view.

3. Get adrenaline rush from Zip Lining – There are 2 sites for Zip Lining which are laid by Pioneer Adventure tours. One of the Zip Line is located on the Umngot river in Shnongpdeng. Other Zip line is located on the Mawkdok valley which is enroute Shnongpdeng. We experience the Zip line in Mawkdok valley as I feel valley zip lines are more fun due to the extreme heights.

4. Explore the Umngot river on a kayak – Kayak is a fun way to explore the calm Umngot river. The river stretch is good enough to spend about 2-3 hours and maybe even everyday of your stay. Pioneer adventure has kayaks and paddle boats as well to explore this crystal clear river. When we first learnt kayaking from a fellow mate in Vietnam, he told us this funny story of how couple kayaking can lead to divorce. Its a thing you will understand only when you ride one. I must say that after 1 hour of struggle, we decided to take separate kayaks and we are still married.

5. Enjoy peaceful boating over river – The Umngot river stretch is pretty long and kayaks can go only till certain area. Hence, boating is a nice way to cover most part of the river till the waterfall. Ideal time is early morning or just before sunset as that time we barely found people in river and bird creatures are out and about doing their thing. When you go deeper in the river, on a good day you can spot monkeys, wild birds, and at-times even red panda if you are really lucky.

6. Other adventure sports activity:

Scuba diving and snorkel in – can only be done in winter when the water level has risen significantly and water is crystal clear however the water will be freezing cold
Cliff jumping – this can be done in any season
Jungle hiking – While any of the campsites do not list this activity on their website, but definitely this is fun way to explore the mountain jungles surrounding the Umngot river which is home to many animals and species. This jungle is also home to Hoolock Gibbons

Stay Options

We rented the safari tents by Pioneer adventure Tours and we found them to be the best for us. The safari tents rent includes charges for stay, 4 meals, and bonfire. For Safari tents there is a common dinning area where we met and interacted with other people over some guitar and food. The bonfire was absolutely fun and we enjoyed it on both the days of our stay. The adventure sports activities such as kayak, scuba, snorkel, etc is charged additionally. The per person rent for Safari tent is INR 3800 for day 1 and INR 1500 for subsequent days. Each safari tent has 1 twin bed and 1 single bed and personal bathroom facility.

There are also tent facility to camp on the river bed with some common bathroom facilities. These tents usually cost per person between INR 800 to INR 1000.

Due to the limited Safari tent and river camping options, you need to book atleast 2 months in advance during peak season.

Alternative, there are many small home stays that are just lined up a bit above in the hill parallel to the river which can cost as low as INR 1000 per night.

The Safari tents on the banks of Umngot river

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Travel Budget for Two people

We incurred cab cost here for entire two days as we had hired a cab from Guwahati for the entire round trip. We needed our cab to reach here and go back. There are many cabs available to reach and leave Shnongpdeng however, Because this places is in interior the overall cost of hiring a cab just to drop & pickup wouldn’t make much difference vs hiring the cab for entire trip.