Keibul Lamjao National Park, Manipur - The world's floating sanctuary

Floating islands exists on six of the seven continents of the world and even in the oceans between them. The floating islands are artificial, like the one in Lake Titcaca in Bolivia or natural, like the one in the State of Manipur, India, The Keibul Lamjao National Park  

There is a distant possibility of portions of solid earth on which we stand, to float on the surface of a water body,  but Phumdis  a series of floating islands created by an accrual of organic garbage and biomass with soil particles that have been thickened into a heterogeneous masses of vegetation, soil and organic matter in different stages of decay can even take a load of a house. It is an association of more than 150 species of aquatic semi aquatic and even terrestrial vegetation. It is initiated with floating aquatic plant biomass and with gradual succession stages allowing congenial condition for various species to colonise the existing biomass thereby increasing the thickness at every stage.   

The largest single mass of Phumdi  is in the south eastern part of the famed Loktak lake, in the State of Manipur, India covering 26 sq M of the 40 sqKm area constituting the world’s largest floating park , The Keibul Lamjao National Park. The genesis of the park, according to popular believe  is that during a forest fire, wild animals especially tigers and leopards from neighbouring hills took shelter in the grass meadows of the area and henceforth this area came to be known as Keibul Lamjao, "Kei" means Tiger "bul" means gather, "Lamjao" means vast land.    The park has a rich amalgam of aquatic, wetland and terrestrial ecosystem and conditions  ideal to preserve the natural refuge of endangered Manipur Eid’s deer or Sangai or the dancing deer. The thickness of the Phumdis can go up tp 3 M and above. However a minimum thickness of 0.75 M is required for a Sangai to walk over safely. The Sangai is  listed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.The brow antlered deer was first discovered in Manipur in 1839, reported an extinct species in 1951 and rediscovered in Keibul Lamjao Park area by the environmentalist and photographer E P Gee.   This necessitated declaring the reserve park area as a national park to protect and conserve the deer.  The park was initially declared a sanctuary in 1966 and subsequently declared a national park in 1977.

The park is 53 Km from Imphal located near Moirang. Sangai is the state animal of Manipur and as its hooves are adapted to walk on the phumdis, a primary reason for the park to be a natural refuge and habitat of the endangered species.   It is a pride of place in the folklore and culture of the Manipuri State and is the state animal of Manipur. From a small herd of 14 deer in 1975 it has risen to 260 as per latest wildlife census conducted in April 2016.

 During the period of monsoon the phumdis floats on the water and during the dry periods when the water levels are low, it sinks to  the lake bottom.  It  roots derives its nutrients from the soil and again begin to float  when  the water level increases, in the process the  biomass which has enough nutrients stored in the plant roots survives. However with the installation of the Loktak Hydroelectric Project the water levels remain high all around the  year.  This  caused  disturbance in  the feeding of nutrients on lake bottom by the phumdis and hence lead to a loss of biomass and thinning of the islands with each passing year. In the process  two eco systems have formed in the Loktak Lake , one, the body of open water covering one-third of the area and the other, the phumbi covering the remaining two-third. 

Imphal, the capital of the State of Manipur is well connected by air from Guwahati, major cities of North East,  Kolkata. Delhi , Bengaluru and with the Myanmar city of Mandalay. A Air Asia flight took us from Guwahati to Imphal and we touched down on a bright sunny morning  at the Bir Tikendrajit International Airport. We drove the fifty odd kilometres on to Keibul Lamjao Sanctuary through the beautiful environs of the Manipur valley surrounded by green paddy fields, emerald green valleys and undulating blue mountains. It was indeed picturesque and we were indeed mesmerized by the beauty of nature and its exotic landscape. Mother Nature has been extra generous in her beauty and has been rightly named Manipur meaning " The land of Jewels".

An hour and a half drive brought us to the gates of Keibul Lamjao sanctuary. We were fortunate enough to be housed in the Forest inspection bungalow, courtesy the Forest Deaprtment of Manipur, inside the sanctuary. With the local  cuisine for lunch under preparation in the kitchen, we went off to the view point to sight the Sangai. It was heartening to note that adequate infrastructure has been created for the tourist and nature lovers and tourism in Manipur will not remain any more a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Having done our recce, we went back to the Forest Guest house for a sumptuous lunch of Manipuri dishes. 

The best time to visit the park is early in the morning or at the time of sun down when the Sangai deer comes out to feed in herds. Taking the clue, we were once again back to the view point just before sunset. The Sangai deer is a very shy animal and with the slightest indication of human presence it hides in the high grassland of the sanctuary. The colour being similar to the surroundings, it can camouflage easily.   This time the Forest authorities were armed with binoculars and telescope. With the light fading, we strained our eyes to get the dancing deer in our sight. The experienced forest guards could soon sight three deer gazing in the grasslands through the binoculars. Once sighted the telescope was utilized to get the breath taking telescopic view of the near instinct majestic and beautiful Sangai deer. 

A good way to explore the park is to take a boat trip along the labyrinthine routes or a more adventurous trip is to take a walk through the park keeping in mind that the phumdi is not a firm ground. It was early at dawn the next morning we were driven to the spot where the boat along with forest guards awaited us. It was thrilling experience as the boat was rowed through the narrow lane of water, a trail  formed through the phumdis and the marshy high grassland with the first rays of the sun gelling with the glorious view.

 The Loktak Lake is interspersed with 14 hillocks of which eight are inside the Keibul Lamjao sanctuary. These hillocks adds to the unique habitat of the park. It provides ideal refuge to the animals inhabiting inside especially during the monsoons. Our  destination was to climb one of the hillocks and get a vantage position to sight the Sangai deer. 

 half an hour boat ride took us to the foot of a hillock. The climb of the hill was rather steep and it left us breathless by the time we hit the top of the hillock. It was a small price we paid, because once we reached  the top of the hillock the view of the surrounding was matchless. 

The guard got into the act in using his experience to sight the deer through his binoculars and in no time could locate a herd of deer, four in number. We spent a good hour on top of the hillock enjoying the nature at its best, watching the deer grazing, some in the marshy grasslands, a few in the grass meadows  and very reluctantly  we made our way back down the hill, on to the boat for our return journey with a feeling of contentment that we could sight one of the most endangered species of deer and that too in the world only floating sanctuary.