Living Root Bridge Cherrapunji

The Living Root Bridge of Cherrapunji

IN THE DEPTHS OF NORTHEASTERN INDIA, within sight of the India-Bangladesh border, in one of the wettest places on earth, bridges aren’t built—they’re grown.

The southern Khasi and Jaintia hills are humid and warm, crisscrossed by swift-flowing rivers and mountain streams. On the slopes of these hills, a species of Indian rubber tree with an incredibly strong root system thrives and flourishes. While there are dozens of root bridges, which can be found all throughout the valleys between (very roughly!) the towns of Mawsynram and Dawki, few of these are easily accessible, or have nearby tourist facilities. To visit the bridges in the more remote areas, a local guide is an absolute must! A number of these bridges can be reached from Cherrapunjee Holiday Resort. Local maps to the bridges are available from the Resort.

The “Umshiang Double-Decker Root Bridge” is located in the village of Nongriat. Visitors can walk here from the small village of Tyrna. The village is accessible from Cherrapunjee by shared or private taxi. From the village, 2500 steps must be traversed to reach Nongriat. The walk takes about 1.5 – 2 hours each way. Nongriat offers basic accommodation to visitors, so it’s possible to stay overnight for a more relaxed experience. Serene Guest House is the best run establishment in Nongriat. From Nongriat, short hikes can lead you to several nearby root bridges, include several upstream from the village, a small, nice one, in the village of Mynteng, and several spectacular examples in the village of Nongthymmai. A large number of living root bridges are known to exist in the jungles around the town of Pynursla. To reach these, many of which are deep in the jungle and require several hours of tough hiking, make sure to find a reliable, local, guide. The Rangthylliang Eco-Tourism society comes highly recommended, and can arrange your stay while in the area. Another option for visiting root bridges is the beautiful, remote, village of Kongthong, which has several in the near vicinity. The Kongthong Travelers Nest is a great base to explore the area from, with several spectacular root bridges within a few hours walk. There’s also the village of Shnongpdeng, in the West Jaintia Hills, near Dawki, which can be used as a great staging area to explore several villages with root bridges. Recommended are Coding Rim, Padu, and Burma. All of these villages have very little in the way of tourist facilities, so make sure to ask for help planning your visit in Shnongpdeng! Please respect the area’s natural surroundings.

The Living Root Bridge, Meghalaya

Roots of the rubber tree (Ficus elastica Roxb.) are the pavements for these natural bridges of near Cherrapunjee in Meghalaya. Strong secondary roots of this rubber tree are manipulated to grow horizontally across rivers. These types of bridges take very long to develop into a firm bridge. These bridges grow to approximately 50 to100 feet long and have strong and deep roots providing a stable foothold. Key advantages of the living root bridges include exceptional structural robustness and resilience, progressive increase in load bearing capacity with time and use, remedial impact on surrounding soil, water and air and grass root community involvement in the growth process across multiple generations.

Ficus elastica is a living biological system.

Imagine about a bridge, which has life. Though it’s very difficult to imagine but in reality it is not impossible as shown by the local villagers of near Cherrapunjee in Meghalaya. They constructed stout, robust bridges over the rivers (Fig.1 ) by interwoven living prop root of Indian Rubber plant (Ficus elastica Roxb.) belonging to the fig family (Moraceae).

different shape and size are constructed by villages near Cherrapunjee in Meghalaya. This hilly terrain is known as one of the wettest place of the world, Mousinram, a adjoining village of this area receives highest rainfall of the world (1,250 cm approx/year). This huge amount of rainwater drains out from this region through numerous streams and rivers which obstructs the communication of the local villagers. It is difficult to construct concrete bridges in these areas due to constrains of transporting the building materials through very poor road network and flash floods in the rivers.

In the far northeast corner of India lies Meghalaya, the “abode of the clouds”. The title is fitting: it’s the wettest state in India. Every year, more than 12 meters of rain pour down upon its lush green mountains and river valleys.

But the abundant rainfall isn’t the only natural wonder drawing tourists to this northeastern “sister” state. Deep in Meghalaya’s forests grow its most famous attractions: the living root bridge.

Crafted by the local Khasi tribes, the bridges are made from the roots of rubber trees. Traditionally, the roots are carefully guided across spaces using the straight trunks of betel nut trees…

There are root bridges scattered all throughout Meghalaya, the bridge in Mawlynnong being the most famous. We chose to skip the crowds and visit the grandest of them all: Umshiang, the double decker bridge in the village of Nongriat, and one of India’s finest offbeat destinations.

Getting there, however, is no simple task. Though visitors’ ways are guided by a newly-minted cement pathway, the journey to Nongriat is a steep one. For information on getting to Cherrapunjee and then to Nongriat, check out our article on how to get to Cherrapunjee.

We didn’t have to stray far to find the main attraction. Umshiang, the double decker living root bridge, is only a stone’s throw away from the village of Nongriat.