Loktak Lake — lake
Mongyamba · CC BY-SA 3.0

Loktak Lake

  • 2 min read
  • 24.550° N 93.783° E

Interesting facts

  • The sangai was declared extinct in 1951 before being rediscovered on the floating marsh of Keibul Lamjao by the naturalist E. P. Gee.
  • From a herd of just 14 deer in 1975, the sangai population had recovered to about 260 animals by the 2016 census.
  • Roughly a fifth of a phumdi's thickness rides above the waterline, enough to carry the weight of deer and other large mammals.
  • Keibul Lamjao has been described as too deep to be a marsh and too shallow to be a lake.
  • As the floating mats thin, the hooves of the sangai can sink through them, and some deer have drowned in the marsh.
  • The lake supports a fishery of about 1,500 tonnes a year, and some 100,000 people live in the 55 settlements around its shores.
  • Scientists have counted around 425 animal species in and around the lake, among them the Indian python, the hoolock gibbon and the marbled cat.
  • The hydropower scheme fed by the lake produces 105 megawatts from three 35-megawatt turbines, supplying electricity across several north-eastern states.
  • In 1993 Loktak was placed on the Montreux Record, the Ramsar list of wetlands whose ecological character is changing or under threat.
  • The lake has its own annual celebration, Loktak Day, held every 15 October on its shores.

Why it is worth it

Loktak is a lake that floats. Across much of its surface drift phumdis, thick mats of vegetation, soil and decaying organic matter that rise and settle with the water, so that from a boat the lake looks less like open water than a patchwork of green islands, rings and channels. It is the largest freshwater lake in north-east India, lying in the southern part of the Manipur valley, and its size pulses with the seasons: usually around 287 square kilometres, it can range from about 250 to 500 square kilometres when the monsoon fills it. The name comes from Meitei, in which lok means stream and tak means end.

The largest phumdi, about 40 square kilometres, lies along the south-eastern shore and carries Keibul Lamjao National Park, the only floating national park in the world. It is the last natural refuge of the sangai, the brow-antlered deer of Manipur, a subspecies of Eld's deer found nowhere else and once thought to be extinct. Many of the circular mats on the open water are athaphums, made by fishermen to trap fish, and some fishing families live on the phumdis themselves. Hills and islands such as Sendra, Thanga and Ithing rise in the southern part of the lake. Surveys have recorded more than 230 species of aquatic plants, among them lotus and Euryale ferox, and dozens of waterbird species, many of them migrants from beyond the Himalaya.

Loktak was listed as a Ramsar wetland of international importance in 1990. Since 1983 the Ithai Barrage at its outlet has held the water at a steady level for the Loktak hydropower project, a change that altered the lake's natural rhythm and thinned the floating mats on which the sangai depends.

Moirang, on the south-western shore, is an old Meitei town known for the temple of the deity Thangjing and the legendary love story of Khamba and Thoibi. On 14 April 1944 the flag of the Indian National Army was raised here, an event remembered by a memorial complex in the town.

Getting there

Moirang is about 6 km from the lake. The nearest airport is Bir Tikendrajit International Airport (IMF) at Imphal, about 26 km away; Imphal, the capital of Manipur, lies roughly 35 km to the north.

On these lists

The Most Beautiful Places in India 90The Most Beautiful Lakes in India 8The Most Beautiful Water Wonders in India 11The Most Beautiful Lakes 105The Most Beautiful Water Wonders 429

From the encyclopaedia

Loktak Lake is the largest freshwater lake in Northeast India. It is a pulsating lake, with a surface area varying from 250 km2 to 500 km2 during the rainy season with a typical area of 287 km2. The lake is located at Moirang in Manipur state, India. The etymology of Loktak is Lok = "stream" and tak = "the end" in Meitei language. It is famous for the phumdi floating over it. The largest of all the phumdis covers an area of 40 km2 (15 sq mi) and is situated on the southeastern shore of the lake. Located on this phumdi, Keibul Lamjao National Park is the only floating national park in the world. The park is the last natural refuge of the endangered Sangai, Rucervus eldii eldii or Manipur brow-antlered deer, one of three subspecies of Eld's deer.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

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