Living Root Bridge

Living Root Bridges are century-old natural shoots of the banyan fig trees grown around the vicinity of large and small rivers which in turn aid in providing a means to cross the bridges by entangling those shoots from opposite banks. As the shoots gain strength with time, the bridges become more and more robust. The phenomenon is unique and endemic to this part and travellers from around the world come to see the miracle of these living root bridges. There is a small village known as Tyrna, about 2 km from away from Cherrapunjee where the journey to these living root bridges begins. Across 25000 steps covering a distance of close to 3.5 km, the village of Nongriat is the focal point of the famous Double Decker Living Root Bridge.

There are two layers of bridges on the river here as according to local tales, the lower living Root Bridge got submerged in a heavy deluge around 40 years back. As a result, a higher elevated living root bridge above this one was conceived to tide over this problem. Contrary to the popular belief, the living Root bridges are more sturdy compared to the steel wire ones and provide a firm footing on the base for easy movement all along. The small natural swimming pools around this bridge provide good source of relaxation after a hard day’s hike. There is also a small guest house on the other side of the bridge run by Meghalaya Tourism that caters to tourists here.