On March 2016 I visited North-East India for the first time. The first state I visited was Meghalaya, and naturally I went to Nongriat to see the fabulous “Living Root Bridges“. As an architect and geographer I was immediately intrigued by these amazing natural-man-made structures. I visited some other root bridges in the area and decided that this was just an “aperitief” for a more thorough visit – after all it was known that root bridges can be found only in those southern Khasi hills areas of Meghalaya.
I then continued my journey towards Nagaland. I started with its northern part – Mon district. After spending a couple of days in the village of Longwa, I decided to walk to the village of Nyahnyu by the trail linking the two villages. It was a lovely hike in an area rich with vegetation. Nothing prepared me for an interesting surprise.
Just before Nyahnyu I met this bridge which immediately seemed suspicious… Thin bamboo deck, Ficus elastica trees nearby…
Numerous aerial roots…
The creek was deep and covered with thick vegetation, but I managed to get a side view
This is definitely a living root bridge! And quite an impressive one, because the roots create a perfectly straight supporting beam. So root bridges are not unique to Khasi hills in Meghalaya!
After spending a few charming days in Nyahnyu I took the walking path towards Phomching, to catch a vehicle back to Mon town. This was a second surprising encounter…
This time I could get to the (flowing) river bed to get some good views
Following is a view from one side to another. Note how several aerial roots were ‘guided’ and interweaved across the creek to create this amazingly strong straight beam
Time to say goodbye, and continue towards Phomching
On the way I met another, very short, root bridge
Opposite, on the same creek, I found what seemed to be a root bridge under construction, where young aerial roots are guided along bamboo branches
Nagaland has root bridges as well, so here’s another area that calls for exploring one of the most inspiring examples of nature – humanity bond.
Here’s a video documentation of those bridges
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