For hundreds of years, people have been crafting bridges out of nothing but roots.
The living root bridge as it’s called is a practice of tree shaping or guiding and
forming tree trunks or their roots to form artistic shapes and physical structures.
The Northeast Indian State of Meghalaya has a history with living root bridges, the locals
craft the roots of the Ficus elastica tree to become bridges over rivers.
The history of these bridges goes back so far that no one knows when it began, not even
those guys who build swimming pools in the jungle.
The Khasi people, a group known for their living root bridges don’t even know when
this tradition started.
Earliest written record of the living root bridges was by Lieutenant Henry Mule, ahem
Lieutenant Henry Yule who shared his delight about them in his 1844 Journal of the Asiatic
Society of Bengal.
Reaching 180 feet or 55 meters tall the ficus elastica tree has roots that span 131 feet
or 40 meters.
This unusual tree has abundant aerial roots which grow from the trunk and main branches
of the tree.
This plant starts its life as an epiphyte, growing within the branch of another tree.
As it gets bigger it’ll send a root down to the ground that will grow quickly once
they start digging in.
Over time the aerial roots will surround the tree preventing the trunk from getting any
bigger unless they are carefully weaved into something like a bridge.
These trees will grow all over other trees and eventually when the original host tree
dies the fig will take over its space and thrive.
Living root bridges created from the ficus elastica are found predominantly in Indonesia
at Jembatan Akar on the island of Sumatra and in the Banten Province of Java by the
Baduy people.
The longest bridge is over 164 feet or 50 meters in length near the small Khasi town
of Pynursla in India.
Not only single but double living root bridges, like this one in Padu village are created
with other creations like the famous double-decker living root bridge in Nongriat Village.
Living root bridges are most famously known to occur in the West Jaintia Hills district
and East Khasi Hills district of India.
Creating these bridges isn’t always a straight forward process.
Their creation requires a lot of twisting, turning is complicated and confusing much
like the invention of ski ballet.
Sometimes they are twisted and tied together or just guided to grow straight across.
Often through the process of inosculation, the aerial roots grow together to form a larger
stronger root or branch.
The ficus elastica being well suited to grow on rocky surfaces and steep slopes as well
as its ability to anchor itself into the rock makes for easy attaching to the far side of
a creek or river when the roots get long enough.
These natural root bridges can last a couple hundred years and are created in a few different
ways.
First by hand: locals will move the roots into place as they grow and weave them into
position as they get stronger.
I can only imagine this job is boring but I’m sure the benefits tree-mendous.
Next is the bamboo scaffold technique.
For higher root bridges bamboo scaffolding is setup to bridge the gap until the roots
take anchor on the other side.
Often multiple sets of a bamboo scaffolding needs to be replaced until the root bridge
is ready to stand on its own.
The third technique is done with Areca Palm trunks.
Hollowed out areca palm trunks are laid across the gap where the bridge is to be created
and the roots grow through them until they are strong enough for the hollow trunk to
be removed.
This process can take 15 years to complete.
Not only do the areca palms provide support and protection from the elements but also
nutrients to speed up the growth of the fig tree’s roots.
Finally the steel scaffolding or wire technique.
Steel wire is used to create a guide for the roots to follow and grow to the other side.
Often existing wires used for another purpose are left behind allowing the roots to use
this support for the life of the bridge making it usable sooner than the other techniques.
Now don’t worry I wouldn’t just mention a rare fig tree as the base for these bridges
but not mention the figs themselves.
Not only do these trees grow in India but Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, Malaysia and Indonesia
as well.
They produce small figs that grow from the side of a branch with a very unusual blossom
on the end.
The figs themselves start off green and will eventually ripen to orange and purple.
On the inside is a green flesh with firey red seed tips kind of like this fig here.
This fig isn’t all the flavorful and is typically cooked along with the young leaves
and young leaf tips that are eaten as a vegetable.
The aerial roots are used to heal wounds, the latex has been used to successfully cure
5 cases of whipworm infection, don’t worry I’m just as stumped as you are, how they
use latex to heal an infection but we can feel glad they got to the root of the problem.
In the middle of the 19th century, the latex of this tree was a traded commodity but by
1920 most of the trade of the latex ceased.
Aside from bridges, platforms for villages and ladders have been woven from these roots
like this beautiful creation.
Other ladders like this are created but I can knot imagine this being good for the ankles
for the local villagers.
Thanks for sticking around till the end, you know where that subscribe button is, and until
the next one have a good one.