The Keibul Lamjao National Park
The surface of the Loktak is dotted with thousands of floating islands, known in the local language as phumdis, which are actually circular landmasses made of vegetation, soil, and organic matter (at different stages of decomposition) that have thickened into solid form over the years. Thousands of fishermen live in bamboo huts built on these phumdis. The largest phumdi, spanning an area of 40 sq km and located at the southeastern end of the lake, is home to the Keibul Lamjao National Park, which is the last refuge of Manipur’s state animal – the endangered brow-antlered deer or Eld’s deer, locally known as Sangai.
The reserve area was designated a national park in 1966 specifically to preserve these deer, which were on the verge of extinction. The sangai’s hooves have adapted to the island’s spongy ground. The distinctive nature of the park is that it is too deep to be a marsh and too shallow to be a lake. It is grounded to the lake bed during the dry season, but gets submerged for a few days during the monsoon. During this period, the animals in the park move to higher hilly areas. It emerges and floats to the surface fully a few days later. About twenty percent of its thickness floats on the lake, above the surface, which supports the weight of large animals. Apart from the sangai, other animal species found on the park include the hog deer, common otter, wild boar, jungle cat, musk shrew, and sambar.
The Loktak is a bird-watcher’s paradise, with numerous birds such as the ruddy shell duck, black kite, northern hill myna, lesser skylark, East Himalayan pied kingfisher, blue-winged teal, and sarus crane, among others, being commonly sighted in the region.
For the local people, the Loktak is no mere lake but their lifeline, providing not only water for drinking, power generation, and irrigation, but also edible plants, roots and fruits growing on the phumdi for food.
Revered as Loktak Lairembi(Goddess Loktak) and Ema(mother), the lake represents the fountainhead of Manipuri culture. However, the lake and its surrounding areas are today facing serious problems caused by pollution, deforestation, and soil erosion, which in turn is threatening the survival of the sangai deer.
