Manipur

Manipur's central valley sits at about 790 metres, ringed by forested hills that rise past 2,500 metres on the Myanmar frontier. Loktak, the largest freshwater lake in the northeast, is covered with phumdis, floating rafts of soil and vegetation on which fishermen build huts and set circular fish pens; the southern part of the lake forms Keibul Lamjao, the only floating national park on earth and the last refuge of the sangai, a brow-antlered deer once thought extinct. In Imphal, Ima Keithel has been run by several thousand women vendors for generations, selling fermented fish, black rice and handwoven phanek. Kangla Fort was the Meitei seat of power; nearby, the Imphal War Cemetery and the INA memorial at Moirang mark the fighting of 1944. In the hills, Ukhrul's Shirui Kashong holds the Shirui lily, which flowers in May and June and grows nowhere else. Manipuri Sankirtana is on UNESCO's intangible heritage list. Signature journeys combine Loktak, Imphal's markets and a Ukhrul or Dzukou hill day.