KHONSA, 10 Feb: A trekking expedition to Longpongka Hill in Tirap district was organised by the district tourism office here in Tirap district, in collaboration with the youths of Thinsa village.
The expedition, led by Everester Tagit Sorang Abraham, started at 11 am on Friday and reached the highest point of the hill on the same day at 1:30 pm.
Located at an altitude of 2,119 metres, it is the highest mountain peak in Tirap district.
The team returned safely at 11:30 am on Saturday after a night halt there, Abraham said.
The expedition, themed ‘Say no to drugs, save life’ and ‘Drugs chodo, trekking mai jodo’, was flagged off by the chief of Thinsa village.
The 27-member team included DTO Rigio Tabam, tour operator Khungwang Tangjang and Thinsa village GPC Bamnye Anyiam.
This was the first time that a trekking expedition was organised to explore the route to the hill, which is also a historical place.
“There is a place called Longpongka, 7 kms away from the village, which was used as a transit camp by the allied forces during the 2nd World War,” Abraham said, quoting the villagers.
“All the able male members of Thinsa and Kheti villages had served as porters to carry ration, arms and ammunition from Dilighat in Assam to Longpongka and from Longpongka to Myanmar border,” the villagers said.
“Through this transit camp the allied forces had contained the advancing Japanese forces,” they said.
“The existence of the transit camp was never made known to the outside world until today,” they said. The site is located at a point from which the surroundings of Patkai Hills, including the plains of Assam, are visible.
Abraham said that they found three ‘stone marks’ and a rock cave en route to Longpongka Hill.
