The Largest Natural Bridge

The Largest Natural Bridge - Fairy Bridge

       Fairy Bridge (Xian Ren Qiao) is a natural bridge carved in limestone by the River Buliu.It is located about 40 km in a straight line in the northwest of Fengshan in Guangxi, China.

           Very few Westerners have seen this bridge. A group Natural Arch and Bridge Society,led by Ray Millar visited Fairy Bridge, in October 2010.

          During this visit by Gunter Welz measurements, it was established that the extent of opening is 138 meters, height of 70 meters and confirmed that the arc has the greatest extension known to the world by a wide margin.

           Beside the amount Fairy Bridge can be reached via a boat ride with rubber raft down the river from the village of Buliu Buliu.

        This trip takes about three hours and passes through several small rapids and a fewmore rapids.

         The downstream side, Fairy Bridge can be reached via bamboo rafts with wooden chairs attached to them, which are driven with sticks.

           Until recently, Fairy Bridge is virtually unknown outside China. NABS has learned that in 2009, when Jay Wilbur was searching the area by a computer using Google Earth and saw what looked like a great natural bridge that spans a river.

            This was quickly confirmed by a Panoramio photo linked to Google Earth, taken by photographer Chinese "ivanytng." Estimates using Google Earth and other photossuggested that the bridge could be the largest in the world.

               This inspired Ray Millar to organize a trip there, it was hard, and his first attempt to get to the arch in 2009 failed. A second effort in 2010 was successful, largely due to the pioneering efforts on the part of China Odyssey Tours, based in Guilin, China.