The Lake of Floating Islands
Loktak Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Northeast India, is famous for its phumdis — floating masses of vegetation, soil and organic matter that form natural islands across the lake's surface, some large enough to support entire fishing villages built directly upon them. Keibul Lamjao, a section of the lake, is recognised as the only floating national park in the world, sheltering the endangered Sangai (brow-antlered deer) found nowhere else on earth.
For Manipur's Meitei community, Loktak holds deep cultural and spiritual significance, woven into local mythology, traditional fishing practices and the wider Vaishnava devotional landscape centred on nearby Imphal. The lake's otherworldly landscape of floating islands and traditional phumdi-based fishing communities (using distinctive circular fishing huts called athaphum) offers a uniquely immersive encounter with both natural wonder and living indigenous culture.
