Description

Meghalaya means "Abode of Clouds" and it's one of the few place names in India that's also a weather report. Cherrapunji, in the East Khasi Hills, holds the record for the highest rainfall ever recorded anywhere on Earth in a single calendar month, and nearby Mawsynram regularly competes with it for the title of wettest place on the planet. The state's signature attraction exists almost nowhere else in the world — living root bridges, built by the Khasi tribes by guiding the aerial roots of rubber fig trees across rivers using hollow betel nut trunks. Over decades, the roots thicken into permanent, load-bearing bridges that grow stronger with age. The most famous, the Double Decker Root Bridge in Nongriat village, requires a descent of roughly 3,500 stone steps from Tyrna to reach. At Dawki, the Umngot River is regularly ranked among the clearest rivers in the world — boats appear to float mid-air over water so transparent you can count individual stones on the riverbed, best seen between October and April. Shillong, the state capital, serves as the base for most trips. Meghalaya's Khasi, Jaintia, and Garo communities are among the world's last surviving matrilineal societies, where lineage and inheritance pass through the mother's side.