Cherrapunjee - the East Khasi Hills

Cherrapunjee - the East Khasi Hills

Cherrapunjee is situated in the East Khasi Hills District of the state of Meghalaya. Sitting on the top of a mountain with a bonfire is just one of the normal days in Cherrapunjee. A night will take you on a journey of stars where life is not just usual; it's a feeling of being extraordinary.

The lower reaches of the southern slopes of Khasi and Jaintia hills are humid and warm and are streaked by many swift flowing rivers and mountain streams.  A species of Indian Rubber tree - botanical name: Ficus elastica - thrives and flourishes alongside these streams and rivers.

This tree can comfortably perch itself on huge boulders along side the riverbanks or in the middle of rivers and send its roots down to the riverbed.  Thus, they have adapted themselves very well to high soil erosion caused by these fast flowing rivers and streams that come down about 3000 feet along precipitous slopes.

Cherrapunjee holds two Guinness World Records; one for having the maximum amount of rainfall in a single year between August 1860 and July 1861. The second record is for the maximum amount of rainfall in a single month, in July 1861. This region experiences an annual average rainfall of around 11,430 metres. Further, it is the only place in India which experiences monsoon all year round.


The average annual rainfall at Cherrapunjee from 1973-2011 (39 years) is 11,820.8 mm (i.e. 38.78 feet- i.e. 453.36 inches). Due to two consecutive years (2005 & 2006) of below average rainfall the average had been pulled down to under 12,000 mm.