To Meghalaya's Living Root Bridges this time...

Meghalaya is one of the few states in India which never fails to surprise on a daily basis, regardless of what season you visit the state. Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya has always been dear to me, for reasons that are beyond sane explanations. Nevertheless, Shillong has been my most frequented capital city in the north eastern states, having visited about five times.

A day prior to heading to Nongriat, enroute dawki!

I found myself in Shillong in the first week of June this year for the sixth time, determined to do the one thing I have not been able to do in all of my earlier visits, hike to the double decker living root bridge at Tyrna village near cherrapunji. Meghalaya and apparently a few other states in the North East are home to the living root bridges where the aerial roots of rubber fig trees on either banks of streams are channeled patiently over years to join, thereby forming the base of a bridge. It takes years of patience and skill to guide the roots, let them combine and strengthen into a bridge, a skill which has been mastered by the Khasi and Jaintia tribes over the years. Essentially, these bridges are alive since the roots which strengthen over time and form the bridge are live roots of living trees on either banks of a stream and unlike the concrete ones, these only get stronger with time(Unless of course, intense loads are passed over them constantly which is unfortunately the case with what oftentimes is rightfully attributed to irresponsible tourism).

My quest for the day on the 04^th of June 2019 was to hike to one such living root bridge in Meghalaya located at the tiny hamlet of Nongriat, some 22 kilometers from Cherrapunjee(Although Google Maps says otherwise). This village is home to two living root bridges, one of which is actually two living root bridges one above the other, thereby popularly known as the double decker living root bridge (Which it is of course, for all statements and purposes).

The beautiful roads of Meghalaya

I have been wandering all over Shillong and South Meghalaya from the last few days all alone on a bike which I hired in Shillong. I would have ideally wanted a Royal Enfield Classic 350/500, which offers good power on the hills since I was used to the RE’s on hilly terrain all over the country but alas I ended up with this, a Yamaha Z-Ray Scooter.

In hindsight, this was very light and actually is much better in tight turns, needless to say she served her purpose quite well.

My ride for the day..

I had to leave really early from Shillong like at 07am in order to beat the traffic snarls on the lone winding road that leads out of Shillong to all the popular tourist spots (Cherrapunjee, Mawsynram and Dawki). The traffic only eases out a bit after crossing where the highway to Mawsynram deviates to the right after the IAF Eastern Air Command Headquarters. It was fairly dry weather till here although it was totally overcast, a few minutes later and not so many kilometers later, it began to drizzle and went on to do so till I returned to Shillong later that evening. About 30 minutes and barely 10Kms later, I managed to reach (albeit completely wet outside of the waterproof poncho plus a thick jacket) Umtynagar where the amazing highway to Dawki deviates to the left and you are on your way to Cherrapunji sans the traffic.

The First Metal Cable Stayed bridge on the hike to Nongriat

About 30 minutes after this is when things got really nasty or awesome, I still am not able to decide which. It began to rain heavily as the elevation kept rising and I was in what appeared to be fog but was actually low lying clouds and I could barely see what lies about 20 meters ahead of me and I didn’t have the luxury of fog lamps or the ability to stay dry like the people in the occasional car I encountered in the opposite direction had. Amidst all the ponchos and a really strong mountain warehouse raincoat, I was wet to the bone. The only thing that remained dry inside was perhaps the GoPro mounted on my Helmet.

Between Cherrapunjee and Tyrna Village, last few kms of motorable road

Progress was terribly slow with speeds occasionally exceeding 30KMPH on my poor Yamaha Scooter all the way till Cherrapunjee which I managed to reach by 1130AM passing some really scary landslides, this was apparently the worst but the most beautiful time to ride along the Khasi hills of Meghalaya, with the monsoon just having set in with full glory. Google Maps is weird in this part of the country and shows ridiculously lesser distances than actual owing to the hilly roads or no roads at all for the better part of the hike(After Mawmluh village towards Tyrna). I ended up reaching Tyrna village by 1230PM which is where the motorable roads end and you have to hike on a long trail of 3500ish steps down to Nongriat village where the double decker living root bridge is located.

Having paid the parking fee and purchased a bamboo to assist in the hike, I set out on the trail of steps down to Nongriat. The hike to Nongriat on the trail of steps inititally takes you down to a stream with a steady yet steep descent for about 2000 steps and further climbs to Nongriat. By this time whatever exhaustion my body had to endure braving the rain and cold was completely negated by the amazing view of the rainbow falls which remained all along the hike(Also there are tiny shops, more of glorified tea stalls which sell maggi and water bottles among other things for the intital bit of the hike, if not interested in carrying too much water weight, you can purchase them here).

Small shops providing much needed hydration

My enthusiasm for the hike however was quickly taking a downward spiral directly proportionate to the steps I was descending towards Nongriat village. Having read blogs before I embarked on this hike myself, I realized in hindsight that the descent has to be made rather slowly as well, else the stress on your muscles during the descent adds to the pain in every organ of your body below the waist on the way back up.

Steep, really steep climb/descent..

After the really steep part, this part looks rather easy. Fun fact, It wasn't.

After about 30 minutes of steep descent I came across this suspiciously strong looking metal cable bridge to cross a river. Although it looks really strong, the entire bridge wobbles the moment you steep foot on it which for some reason I thoroughly enjoyed, so much so that I walked back and forth a couple of times and lost my walking stick in the process. RIP bamboo stick.

The second Cable stayed bridge..

Another stronger metal bridge and almost a liter of sweat later, I reached the first living root bridge which was an amazing sight in itself but my destination for the day was further away. Nongriat village showed itself in a few minutes where there were quite a few homestays (One of which I was aware of) which was rather surprising, there are signs leading you to the double decker living root bridge which is to the right at Nongriat and leads further to the Rainbow falls. About a 100 steps later I was able to witness the double decker living root bridge in its full glory, the locals charge an entry fee and fee separately for the Cameras (GoPro is cheaper).

The First living root bridge before Nongriat..

The living root bridge was a sight to behold,I couldn’t help but wonder about the amount of patience the Khasis had to have actually made not one but two living root bridges stacked on top of each other, it was surreal to say the least. I wouldn’t go on about what I did at the bridge and the stream below except that I just sat there for the longest of time sipping a red tea watching one of the finest examples of ecological engineering and a fine stamp on an ideal coexistence between humans and nature. If you haven’t been there, please add this to your bucket list and go there but please respect the natural habit along the way and while there and not litter.

One of the rivers, taken from over the first cable stayed bridge..

I had to head back after spending an hour at the stream below the bridge, rather unwillingly, but it was 3PM already and I had to hike back and ride 70 odd kilometers back to Shillong in what I hoped was not near zero visibility which dutifully ended up being that way after Cherrapunjee. The hike back to Tyrna was one of the toughest I ever embarked on, and I have hiked on high altitude treks in Ladakh multiple times and have fairly decent endurance. I literally prayed to every God that existed on this planet on the hike back up begging to magically transport me to the top but it was unlikely to happen, asking for the hike to be shortened was akin to asking India and our neighboring countries becoming an Asian Union like the European one. It took a full two hours to hike back up with breaks almost every 50 steps towards the end after crossing both the metal bridges, no words can describe the pain I felt that night in my legs(Perhaps also doubled by being wet the whole day).

Finally, the double decker living root bridge

I finally reached the top to Tyrna village by 1700Hrs by which time my legs were both heading in different directions as if they both had a mind of their own, it was clear by then that they didn’t quite want to listen to the mind in the body they actually belong to. The return ride to Shillong took about 3 hours and by the time I reached Cherrapunjee it was already twilight since the sun sets early in this part of the country.

One last living root bridge on the hike back..

I was thoroughly exhausted by the time I reached my homestay in Shillong and attempted to nurse back my feet to normalcy with warm water wipes. Hours later, grimacing in the pain, sipping on a drink to keep myself warm,  I had no doubt that I would want to do this all over again. The pain I had to endure, afterall, was no match to the beauty of nature I was fortunate enough to witness the whole day.

A really bored cat for company at a tea stall on the hike back up

If anyone wants details on the logistics, travel to Tyrna and a do’s and do nots, please write to me at vijayaditya.369@gmail.com

Heres wishing you a good time exploring our country..