Incredible India
7 Things to Do at Loktak Lake, Home to the World's Only Floating National Park
Loktak Lake in Manipur, the largest freshwater lake in Northeast India, is covered in floating phumdi islands that support fishing villages, a national park and the endangered Sangai deer.
Sep 25, 2026 · BigTravel.in
Loktak Lake, spread across roughly 287 square kilometres of Manipur's Bishnupur valley, is the largest freshwater lake in Northeast India and unlike almost anywhere else on earth. Its surface holds phumdis, thick floating mats of vegetation and soil that support fishing huts, footpaths and even a national park, none of it anchored to the lake bed. Here's how to spend time on and around it.
1. Take an early boat ride across the lake
Boats set out from villages along the shore, and sunrise or sunset are generally reckoned the best times to be on the water, when the light catches the scattered phumdis and the fishing huts built on top of them.
2. Look for the Sangai in Keibul Lamjao National Park
Keibul Lamjao, on the lake's southern edge, is generally described as the world's only floating national park, its entire terrain made up of phumdi. It's the last natural habitat of the Sangai, Manipur's brow-antlered deer, sometimes called the dancing deer for its light-footed gait across the unstable ground.
3. Walk through a phumdi fishing village
Villages such as those around Champu Khangpok sit entirely on floating phumdi, with homes, paths and even small shops built on ground that shifts underfoot. Local fishermen use circular phumdi enclosures, known locally as athaphum, to trap fish, a technique specific to the lake.
4. Take in the view from Sendra
Sendra is a small hillock rising from the lake's centre, developed as a viewpoint with a watchtower over the water. It's typically the easiest spot to take in the phumdis scattered across the lake's surface at once.
5. Try the water sports at Takmu
The Takmu Water Sports Complex, on the lake's edge, offers boating and kayaking for visitors who want to get onto the water without arranging a fishing boat.
6. Visit the INA Memorial Complex at Moirang
Moirang, on the lake's shore, is where Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is commemorated for raising the Indian National Army's flag in 1944, one of the more significant sites in the region's role in India's independence movement. The memorial complex sits a short distance from the lake.
7. Watch the fishing at dusk
Fishermen return to the phumdi villages as light fades, and the combination of low sun, still water and huts silhouetted on the floating islands is, for many visitors, the single image that sums up Loktak.
Traveller tips
- Imphal Airport is roughly an hour to an hour and a half from the lake by road, depending on the access point.
- October to March is generally considered the best season, with clearer skies and migratory birds on the lake.
- Boat hire is usually arranged informally through villages or homestays rather than a fixed ticket counter.
- Entry rules for Keibul Lamjao National Park can change; check current requirements before visiting.
Where this is
Loktak Lake, Manipur