Tourist who's been to all 197 countries visits world's wettest city - never stops raining

Brits may like to complain about the weather, with our average of 150 to 160 days of rain a year - or one in three days - but imagine living in a city that receives the same amount of rainfall in a month as London gets in a year. Sohra in the state of Meghalaya, northeast India, currently holds the all-time record for the most rainfall in a calendar month and in a year.

In July 1861, Sohra, also known as Cherrapunji, received 9,300 millimetres (370in or 30.5ft) of rain, and 26,461 millimetres (1,041.8in or 86.814ft) between August 1, 1860 and July 31, 1861. According to Cherrapunjee Holiday Resort, 98% of the annual rainfall in Sohra occurs in just eight months, from March to October. November, December, January, and February receive nominal or no rainfall. Rains during these usually dry months are mostly caused by cyclonic depressions in the Bay of Bengal. The region is mostly inhabited by the Khasi people, an Austroasiatic ethnic group that is one of the few remaining tribes that have a matrilineal society, where titles and property are traced and inherited through the female line.

Drew Binsky, famed for having visited all 197 countries on the planet, recently visited Sohra, where he met locals who said they were used to the rain, but that doesn't mean they always enjoy it. Speaking to a local fisherman, he asked if it was stressful to live in Sohra, to which the local replied: "It's difficult for us, when it's raining to live here because [there is] no sun [...] When it's raining, we can't go anywhere, we have to stay at home. We don't get any work. It's a problem for us."

But when asked if he had ever considered living somewhere else, he replied defiantly: "No, no."

"We have had almost incessant rains and mists here since the 28th last [May 1827]," wrote David Scott, an agent to the Governor General on the North-East Frontier, in a letter dated June 10, 1827 - one of the earliest references to the rains in Sohra. In 1831, on Scott's recommendation, the British government in India established a hill station in Shora as their headquarters in the region. However, the rain soon became too much, even for the British.

Catholic missionaries in the region at the time reported that "Tables, chairs, benches, etc. must be fixed with bolts. Otherwise, they fall to pieces. Iron bolts cannot be used because they rust and become loose." Things spiralled out of control so quickly that the British people had to be recalled in 1834, just three years after Sohra was established.

Sohra is often credited as being the wettest place on Earth. However, that title is currently held by nearby Mawsynram, which has an average annual rainfall of 11,872 millimetres (467.4 in). On June 17, 2022, Mawsynram set a new record by receiving 1,003.6 millimetres in only 24 hours. This has now become its highest single-day record for the month of June and for its all-time single-day record, beating its former record of 944.7 millimetres in June 1966.

Sohra is also famous for its living bridges, a testament to the local Khasi people's ability to adapt to extreme weather. Over hundreds of years, the people have developed techniques for growing tree roots into large bridges, a process that takes 10 to 15 years but typically lasts hundreds of years. The roots of the Indian rubber tree (Ficus elastica) is fed through hollow canes of Areca nut palm, which train the growth until the banks of a stream become connected. The oldest tree, still used today, is over 500 years old.

Yet, despite the sheer amount of rain it receives, Shora still faces an acute water shortage, forcing inhabitants to often trek very long distances to obtain drinkable water. Irrigation is hampered by excessive rain washing away the topsoil due to human encroachment into the forests. That being said, recent developments in rainwater harvesting techniques have greatly helped the town and its neighbouring villages.

At the other end of the scale, the world's driest city is Arica in Chile, which receives an average of just 0.761 millimetres (0.03in) per year. The nearby town of Quillague, in Chile's Atacama Desert, has an even lower recorded average of 0.5 millimetres per year. Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt, meanwhile, is another notable dry city, with only two millimetres of rainfall per month in winter.