“The Touphema Village Council has a village development board which, like panchayats in non-tribal states, is responsible for overall planning and development. The village also has a tourism committee that not only coordinates with the Tourism Department and private tour operators, but also runs a community kitchen for guests apart from looking after things like cleaning and acting as guides,” says Sema.

As a visitor arrives at the village, he or she is greeted with a welcome drink comprising the traditional rice beer, followed by music and traditional dance. Villagers also show tourists how to cook local dishes.

The Touphema experiment is fast catching on. Khonoma, a historic village 20 km west of Kohima, is being developed as a green village (it has a 25-sq km Khonoma Nature Conservation Tragopan Sanctuary).

Benreu, about 60 km away, has been getting foreign tourists for the past two years.

Nagaland has also developed a 60-acre site at Kisama near Kohima as a Naga Heritage Site. It has 16 morungs, or traditional dormitories, representing 16 different tribes which showcase the state’s unique tribal art and culture, and also hosts the Hornbill Festival in the first week of December every year.

The dormitories also house college students coming for excursions, with local villagers showing them how the traditional Naga society requires its young to not just live together but also take part in community work like cleaning the village and helping construct roads and houses.

Jesmina Zeliang, the young entrepreneur who only last month converted a private bungalow into a nine-room heritage hotel called Razhu Pru, is happy he took the plunge. “We initially thought it was a risky affair. But it has been an instant hit with tour operators in Delhi and Guwahati,” says Zeliang.

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