The Double Decker Living Root Bridge

July 5th / 2017

I happened to visit Cherrapunji, Meghalaya sometime in Jan this year and the main intention for me to visit this place was to witness one of the greatest bio-engineering’s of Meghalaya, the Double Decker Living Root Bridge – one of its kind in the whole world.

These bridges are handmade from aerial roots of Rubber trees by the people of the mountains, hundreds of years ago. The flexible tree roots are made to grow through the betel tree trunks which have been placed across rivers and streams until the figs roots attach themselves to the other side. These bridges grow stronger day by day. It’s been maintained from generations to generations of families living in these mountainous regions. You have these single Living root bridges also but the beauty in the picture shown is that there are double bridges instead of a single. It seems the first bridge was not enough and during the rainy season when the stream overflowed, the villagers built one on the higher side without knowing that it would be a tourist attraction one day…amazing !!!