Nongriat village in particular, has both cable-suspension bridges as well as the living root bridges. Over the course of a decade, the influx of local and global tourism has increased the need for accessibility.


Contemporary cable bridges.

Villagers in Nongriat and Mawllynong, are incredibly conscious about the forests they inhabit and tend to it, with a great deal of care, ensuring the longevity of the bridges and the overall absence of trash that might have been left over by the careless tourist.


Villager looks on as part of daily maintenance.

Most of the villagers practise subsistence farming and other various modes of livelihood selling the crops that the cultivate or the produces like pepper, oranges,wood and areca nut and beetle nut leaves.


A villager walks on with a huge saw.

It is observed that whilst approaching the lesser-known Mawsaw living root bridge, the roots from the existing Mawsaw Bridge have extended across the cable suspension bridge that leads to it.


Contemporary root bridges with cable suspensions.

Eventually it will form yet another, longer more durable living root bridge, using the quicker to execute-cable suspension bridges. This paves the way for a new mode of bioengineering where the immediate need for access is solved by cable suspension bridges, which though relatively easier or standardized in construction is often not feasible in the long run considering the region’s weather and tendencies of metal structure corrosion.


Coexistence of living wood and man-made metal.

The living root bridges seen at Nongriat and those that exist in Mawlynnong are examples of centuries worth of arborsculpture, architecture and design knowledge in sustainability and showcase an amalgamation of metal and arboreal materials.


Nongriat is an example of civilizations who work with a design-inspired nature.