Nongriat

Nongriat is a village in the East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya State, in north-eastern India. It is perhaps best known for its living root bridges; one an impressive double-decker suspension bridge called Jingkieng Nongriat. The village has three functional root bridges. These are crafted by hand, as the Khasi people have done in the Khasi Hills for centuries, intertwining and weaving together the aerial roots of banyan trees on opposite sides of a stream-filled gorge. Jingkieng Nongriat, better known simply as Double Decker, has been featured on international television programs such as the Human Planet series filmed in 2008 by BBC Wales, and a documentary by Osamu Monden in June 2004 for Asahi TV in Japan. There is another functioning living root bridge upstream from Nongriat, along with a hybrid structure that is made from both roots and steel wire.