This… is the coolest thing I have ever seen

In the depths of northeastern India, in one of the wettest places on earth, bridges aren’t built - they’re grown.

The living bridges of Cherrapunji, India are made from the roots of the Ficus elastica tree. This tree produces a series of secondary roots from higher up its trunk and can comfortably perch atop huge boulders along the riverbanks, or even in the middle of the rivers themselves.

The root bridges, some of which are over a hundred feet long, take ten to fifteen years to become fully functional, but they’re extraordinarily strong - strong enough that some of them can support the weight of fifty or more people at a time.Because they are alive and still growing, the bridges actually gain strength over time - and some of the ancient root bridges used daily by the people of the villages around Cherrapunji may be well over five hundred years old.

from rootbridges.blogspot.com

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