Mawlynnong - Beautiful village in Meghalaya known for it's cleanness & unbelievably strong Living Root Bridge
Meghalaya is one of the popular states amongst seven sisters when it comes to tourism activities in North Eastern states of India. And Mawlynnong village certainly stands at the top of the list of main places to explore in Meghalaya state of India. This blogpost shares why Mawlynnong village is known as one of the cleanest villages in the country, along with other things of interest around Mawlynnong in Meghalaya state of India.
Given geography of Mawlynnong village, I can spend whole day walking around this place. Because of heavy rains in this part of the state, the area is pretty green and different kinds of vegetations make it even more colorful. The only thing is that most of the trails are slippery so one needs to be very carefully while walking around.
Related Blogpost from Meghalaya - Mawsmai Caves - A great place to explore in Cherrapunji, Meghalaya (India)
Living root bridges are a form of tree shaping common in the southern part of the Northeast Indian state of Meghalaya. They are handmade from the aerial roots of rubber fig trees by the Khasi and Jaintia peoples of the mountain terrain along the southern part of the Shillong Plateau. Root bridges have also been observed in the Indian state of Nagaland, which is also located in north east part of the country.
Above photograph shows living root bridge of Mawlynnong village of Meghalaya state in India. Mawlynnong village is also considered as one of the cleaner villagers in the country although I could not appreciate that aspect given I have seen even more beautiful villages in Sikkim but I am sure I must be missing someone on this front and probably I don't understand the criterion well. Certainly the village was not dirty given it's a popular touristy place and there are lot of shops all around. There are lot of shops around the path you take from parking area to the place where Living root bridge is located. There is a ticket of 20 rupees per person to go beyond a point and this is managed by village community group.
Related Blogpost from Meghalaya - One Day Trip from Shillong to Cherrapunji, Meghalaya
Mawlynnong is known for its cleanliness in India and certainly in Meghalaya state of the country. The waste is collected in the dustbins made of bamboo, directed to a pit and then used as manure. A community initiative mandates that all residents should participate in cleaning up the village. Smoking and use of polythene is banned while rainwater harvesting is encouraged. It was amazing to know how this sanitation system is setup in Mawlynnong village and should be adopted across the country.
The travel magazine Discover India declared the village as the cleanest in Asia in 2003 and the cleanest in India in 2005. This reputation has boosted local tourism a lot and that's this village is known now. Since then village and the villagers have benefitted a lot from tourism activities. The better part is that most of the tourism activities around Mawlynnong are organised by villagers community only.
Related Blogpost from Meghalaya - One Day Trip to Mawlynnong Living Root Bridge & Dauki River from Shillong, Meghayala
There is a small water stream flowing under this living root bridge in Mawlynnong of Meghalaya state of India. Many of the photographs you see in blogpost are clicked around the living root bridge of Mawlynnong and with mobile phone camera.
Shillong to Mawlynnong is approximately 80 kilometers distance and because of hilly terrains it takes 2.5 to 3 hours to reach. So even if you plan one place in a day, it would eat up your 6 hrs in travel and don't forget to add lunch time, assuming you would start after breakfast would want to enjoy dinner after you are back. If your tea intake in more than usual, keep some time for that as well :). I couldn't do much research, but I am sure there would be resorts or places to stay nearby so that you spend one night around the place and don't rush through the day. Anyways, our plan to visit Living root bridge as well as Dauki.
Supposedly literacy rate of Mawlynnong village in Meghalaya state is 90%, which is relatively better given average of rural India. Agriculture is main occupation of villagers in Mawlynnong - betel nut is one of the main crops from this part of Meghalaya. During summers, one can enjoy pineapples and lychees which are then exported to the nearby regions as well. That's one of the main reasons that you would find pineapple products popular in this part of Meghalaya. It's Khasi community living in Mawlynnong village. Village has 3 churches because of the fact that main religion of villagers is Christianity.
Above photograph shows a bamboo dustbin installed outside the house but mainly for people taking the path towards Living root bridge. There are multiple dustbins installed across the village and these things help keeping the village cleaner.
If you are planning a visit to Mawlynnong village of Meghalaya, you may want to check out more around planning on Traveltriangle.
I wish we had more time to walk around the village, it's living root bridge and the water streams flowing under the bridge. Supposedly Mawlynnong village looks more beautiful in monsoons but november was also a reasonable month to appreciate it's beauty.
It was a delight to see clarity of these water streams in Meghalaya and it was not specific to Mawlynnong. We were eagerly waiting to visit Dauki river which is popular for transparent water but unfortunately we reached there in dark, so may be another trip to Meghalaya will be required.
It was certainly a good experience to explore Mawlynnong living root bridge. No rain could have made the experience even better.
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