{"id":1550,"date":"2016-04-16T09:22:43","date_gmt":"2016-04-16T07:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/guyshachar.com\/content\/?p=1550"},"modified":"2016-07-10T00:39:24","modified_gmt":"2016-07-09T22:39:24","slug":"living-root-bridges-nagaland-india-mon-myahnyu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/guyshachar.com\/en\/2016\/living-root-bridges-nagaland-india-mon-myahnyu\/","title":{"rendered":"Living Root Bridges of Nagaland India – Nyahnyu Village Mon District"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a>“. As an architect and geographer I was immediately intrigued by these amazing natural-man-made structures. I visited some other root \u00a0bridges 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Just before Nyahnyu I met this bridge which immediately seemed suspicious… Thin bamboo deck, Ficus elastica trees nearby…<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\nngg_shortcode_1_placeholder\n

Numerous aerial roots…<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_2_placeholder\n

The creek was deep and covered with thick vegetation, but I managed to get a side view<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_3_placeholder\nngg_shortcode_4_placeholder\n

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!<\/p>\n

After spending a few charming days in\u00a0Nyahnyu I took the walking path towards Phomching, to catch a vehicle back to Mon town. This was a second surprising encounter…<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_5_placeholder\n

This time I could get to the (flowing) river bed to get some good views<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_6_placeholder\n

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<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_7_placeholder\nngg_shortcode_8_placeholder\nngg_shortcode_9_placeholder\n

Time to say goodbye, and continue towards Phomching<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_10_placeholder\n

On the way I met another, very short, root bridge<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_11_placeholder\nngg_shortcode_12_placeholder\n

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<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_13_placeholder\nngg_shortcode_14_placeholder\n

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.<\/p>\n

Here’s a video documentation of those bridges<\/p>\n