Nongriat is a village in the

East Khasi Hills district East Khasi Hills is an administrative district in the state of Meghalaya in India. The district headquarters are located at Shillong. The district occupies an area of 2,748 km2 and has a population of 825,922 (as of 2011). , it is the most ...

Meghalaya Meghalaya (; "the abode of clouds") is a states and union territories of India, state in northeast India. Its capital is Shillong. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the Assam: the United Khasi Hills an ...

State, in north-eastern

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It is perhaps best known for its

living root bridges Living root bridges are a kind of tree shaping in which rivers are spanned by bridges formed out of the roots of ficus plants. Due to their being made from living, growing trees, they "show a very wide variety of structural typologies, with ...

; one an impressive double-decker

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

called Jingkieng Nongriat. The village has three functional root bridges. These are crafted by hand, as the

Khasi people The Khasi people are an Austroasiatic languages, Austroasiatic Ethnicity, ethnic group of Meghalaya in north-eastern India with a significant population in the bordering state of Assam and in certain parts of Bangladesh. Khasi people form the ...

have done in the

Khasi Hills The Khasi Hills () are a low mountain formation on the Shillong Plateau in the Meghalaya state of India. The Khasi Hills are part of the Garo-Khasi-Jaintia range and connect with the Purvanchal Range and the larger Patkai Range further east. The ...

for centuries, intertwining and

weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...

together the

aerial root Aerial roots are Root, roots growing above the ground. They are often Plant development#Adventitious structures, adventitious, i.e. formed from nonroot tissue. They are found in diverse plant species, including epiphytes such as orchids ('' ...

s of

banyan A banyan, also spelled banian ( ), is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adjacent prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as ...

trees on opposite sides of a stream-filled gorge. Jingkieng Nongriat, better known simply as ''Double Decker,'' has been featured on international

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

programs such as the ''

Human Planet ''Human Planet'' is an 8-part British television documentary series. It was produced as a co-production between the BBC Natural History Unit, BBC Worldwide, BBC Cymru Wales, Discovery Channel and France Télévisions. The documentary describes ...

'' series filmed in 2008 by

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, ...

, and a documentary by Osamu Monden in June 2004 for Asahi TV in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. There is another functioning living root bridge upstream from Nongriat, along with a hybrid structure that is made from both roots and steel wire. Near Nongriat, and best viewed from the neighboring village of Laitkynsew during the

autumn Autumn, also known as fall (especially in US & Canada), is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southern Hemisphe ...

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

season as a magnificent cascade, is the waterfall of Ka Likai. A succession of stone steps connect the community with neighboring village of Tyrna, just below the

Cherrapunji Cherrapunji () - popularly known as, or Sohra - it's original native and official name, is a sub-divisional town (Proposed District) East Khasi Hills district in the Indian state of Meghalaya. It was the traditional capital of ''ka hima Sohra'' ...

- Laitkynsew bridle-path.

Climate

References

Villages in East Khasi Hills district {{Meghalaya-stub