Loktak Lake

Loktak Lake spreads across the southern part of the Manipur valley, surrounded by low hills and fed by rivers descending from the uplands. Its most distinctive feature is the phumdi: floating masses of vegetation, soil and decaying organic matter. Some are thick enough to support shrubs and animals; when water falls in the dry season their roots can reach the lakebed. The floating meadows provide habitat for the sangai, the brow-antlered deer of Manipur.