My trek to the much talked about Double Decker Root Bridge in Meghalaya was one such journey for me which are hard to forget. I usually trek alone, but this time I trek with my Bhindeu Mr. Rajen Neog who is a assistant manager of Reserve Bank of India, Guwahati. Other two members are Sarang Suman Kashyap and Uddipon Dutta.
After an overnight stay at Shillong, we started at 7:30 a.m. to reach Tyrna the base village which is 20 km from Cherrapunji. After reaching Tyrna at 10a.m. we had to walk down another to reach the the lower part of the village Tyrna. . It was a 3000 step journey down the hill with villagers greeting us on the way indicating direction as “This Way”. After almost 20-30 minutes we reached a small village which we thought was the village with the bridge, but it was another 40 min from there. At the end of the patch of areca nut trees was a very small board nailed to a tree indicating the way to the Double Decker Bridge. This place was the most unpolluted place; the noise of water happily flowing was the only sound we could hear. The slippery paths made our walk difficult. Mother Nature in her true beauty made it all worthwhile. We came across plants and trees of all sorts of species, including few jackfruit trees. We are lucky enough to got a fresh jackfruit, which was very tasty. I can’t forget this due to thrills and funs made by Uddipon.
We had to take a cemented way, after descending through a patch of steps made of stones. We came across two hanging bridges over rain fed rivers. The bridges were made of rusty iron cables repaired and supported with bamboo with some parts held together with steel wires. The whole bridge shakes and swings and the water flowing 20-25 feet below make the whole experience fantabulous. In our trek we meet a teen girl from Italy, a young boy and old person from Germany.
After trekking a slippery trek full of thrills we reached Nongriat village where the bridge is located- – the much talked about Double Decker Root Bridge.
After clicking a few photographs and taking a cool bath we came back to Tyrna again through the swinging bridges and slippery route. In our return journey we faced three heavy rains. We took several breaks during the climb and reached Tyrna. During our return journey Bhindeu got a mild illness as it become difficult to trek, Suman and Uddipon helped him to reach Tyrna. Our trekking was ended at 4p.m.
At 5p.m. we reached Orange Roff Restaurant near highway to take our meal. There we meet Mr. Denis P. Rayen, the promoter of Cherrapunjee Holiday Resort. He has brought the focus on the living root bridges of Meghalaya, also fondly named the “Double Decker Root Bridge”. Food of the restaurant and talks become very fruitful, we talked about his past and how he discovered root bridges, how he is working for the local communities. He is also pioneer of tourism in Cherrapunji, his volunteer initiatives helping local people.
8p.m. we reached our guest house after a hard and hectic day. At last my remark is the trek to the living root bridges is not for the faint hearted as it requires lot of stamina and grit to trek down to these natural wonders of the nature.
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