In parts of the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya annual rainfall is the biggest in the world, and during the monsoon seasons rivers grow ferocious. To build bridges over them the local population has turned to a remarkable idea — bridges built from the trained root systems of living trees. It can take generations to build a bridge, so people build them not for themselves but for their descendants. Some bridges currently in use are centuries old. Here’s a short BBC video clip about them:

Two months ago the Daily Mail published a short article with some nice still photos of these remarkable bridges, and a Google search for Meghalaya bridges turned up dozens more pictures.

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