Guide · 4 min read
Pakke Paga Hornbill Festival, Arunachal's hornbill festival, explained
Quick answer: The Pakke Paga Hornbill Festival (PPHF) is a conservation-culture festival held at Seijosa, in Pakke-Kessang district of Arunachal Pradesh, usually in January. It celebrates the hornbill and the Nyishi people’s role in protecting it around Pakke Tiger Reserve. It is not the same event as Nagaland’s Hornbill Festival, different state, different month, much smaller scale.
Two hornbill festivals, two states
Because both carry “hornbill” in the name, they get confused constantly:
| Hornbill Festival | Pakke Paga Hornbill Festival | |
|---|---|---|
| State | Nagaland | Arunachal Pradesh |
| Town | Kisama, near Kohima | Seijosa, near Pakke Tiger Reserve |
| When | December 1–10, every year | Usually January; dates announced yearly |
| Size | State flagship; sixteen-plus tribes, lakhs of visitors | District-level conservation festival |
| Focus | All Naga culture, dance, music, food, craft | Hornbill conservation + Nyishi culture |
What Pakke Paga is about
Pakke Tiger Reserve holds one of India’s healthiest hornbill populations, great hornbills, wreathed hornbills, oriental pied hornbills and the rufous-necked hornbill. The Nyishi communities around it once hunted hornbills for their casques and feathers; starting in the 2000s they became the birds’ protectors instead, the famous Nyishi “hornbill nest adopter” story, where villages and former hunters guard nesting trees and are paid for every chick that fledges.
PPHF, first held in 2015, celebrates exactly that turnaround: Nyishi dance and song, conservation talks, and ecotourism around the reserve. Dates shift year to year and are announced by the organisers, treat any January date you find online as tentative until confirmed.
Which one should you attend?
- Want the big cultural spectacle, ten days, one arena, a full trip ecosystem? Nagaland’s Hornbill Festival, see our Hornbill guide and 2026 packages.
- Want conservation, forests and a small local festival with almost no crowds? Pakke Paga, ideally paired with time near Pakke Tiger Reserve in western Arunachal (it needs its own permits and planning).
If hornbills themselves are the interest, start with our guide to the great hornbill and Nagaland.
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