A National Park that floats! — There is only one such National Park in the world, The Keibul Lamjao National Park. But it is not some man-made amusement park, it is an amazing creation of the nature.
The Loktak Lake at Moirang in Manipur State (India) is the largest fresh water lake in the northeast parts of India. The special feature of this lake is the innumerable floating islands dispersed in the lake. In local language, these islands are called as ‘Phumdis’.
These islands or Phumdis are mixed mass of vegetation, soil and decomposing organic matter. The largest of the Phumdi is about 40 sq. Km. in area and this Phumdi houses the world’s only floating national park.
Almost three fourth of the total area of the Keibul Lamjao National Park comprises of Phumdis. Access to this park is by boats through water ways across the lake.At present the total area of this park is 5337.5 acres. This includes three hills — Pabot, Toya and Chinglao. The animals of this floating park seek shelter in these three hills during monsoon.
The distinct feature of this National Park: Too deep to be marsh-land and too shallow to be a lake.
Because of the floating Phumdis, the size of this national park is not constant. The peripheral areas get submerged during the monsoon season. After a few days it emerges and floats to the surface and separates from the ground. ย At this time, the animals of the park move to the higher hilly areas. The depth of the Phumdis vary from 1 foot to 4 feet. around 20% of its thickness floats above the surface of the lake and it can support the weight of even large mammals.
The Phumdis are of two types – ย Ataoba, which are floating ones and Aruppa or the sinking ones.
The National part is the habitat of the endangered species of brow-antlered deer, which is called as Sangai deer in the local language. This Sangai is Manipur’s State animal. This deer walks with a dainty gait over the floating marshland and so it is also called as the ‘dancing deer’.
Many other types of animals, which are not commonly seen in other places, are also found on this floating national park. animals like hog deer, large Indian civet, bamboo rat, golden cat. keel back tortoise, viper krait, water cobra, banded krait, common otter are inhabitants of this park.
Some species of macaques (stump tailed and Hoolock gibbons are found in this place. Other rare creatures seen here are the blue crested lizard and endangered species of Python molurus.
Some rare birds like the black eagle and Shaheen falcon as well as different varieties of hornbill species are seen in this floating park.
Apart from housing this unique national park, this Loktak lake is also the water source for generation of hydropower, it helps in irrigation and drinking water supply. Many fishermen of this area depend on this lake for their livelihood.
The other islands, (apart from the national park and the floating Phumdis) in this lake are Sendra, Ithing and Thanga islands.
The central zone of this lake is comparatively free of phumdis and originally it was main open water zone. However, the villagers have now created artificial phumdis (called athaphums) for fishing.
Earlier the Phumdis floated during the flooding or rainy season and settled down at the bottom of the lake during the dry season. Thus the phumdis received nutrients and minerals from the lake bed. But now, due to the Loktak Multipurpose project and Loktak hydro electric project, the water is constantly maintained at a high level, even during the dry season. This has disturbed the natural cycle and has affected the growth of vegetation on the phumdis. This is not sufficient to support the animal life in the floating park. Also, the lake water pollution (due to various reasons) has affected the quality of water, consequently affecting the flora and fauna of this unique Floating National Park.
February 2, 2017 at 5:43 pm
amazing
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 3, 2017 at 6:19 am
Yes, nature indeed is amazing. Thank you for the comment and for visiting the blog ๐
LikeLike
February 3, 2017 at 9:58 am
Simply loved the post. Its very informative.
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 3, 2017 at 10:54 am
Thank you so much ๐
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 4, 2017 at 10:42 am
Nice initiative….Feels close to nature
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 4, 2017 at 1:30 pm
Thank you for your good words and thanks for visiting this space ๐
LikeLike
February 5, 2017 at 3:32 pm
It’s like a different world than where I live. Thanks for sharing. ๐
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 5, 2017 at 4:55 pm
Its my pleasure ๐ Yes, various parts of world are so different from each other, aren’t they?
But still we are one world ๐ Thank you for your nice comment and for stopping by.
LikeLike
February 7, 2017 at 4:11 pm
Beautiful park! I did not know about the existence of such an interesting and unusual park. Thank you for the interesting story and beautiful pictures.
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 8, 2017 at 1:21 pm
I am glad that you enjoyed the post and the pictures; Thank you for visiting this space and for your nice words ๐
LikeLike
February 8, 2017 at 4:16 pm
So fascinating Savita! Great captures:)
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 9, 2017 at 6:14 am
I am happy that you liked the post.
Thank you for your nice words and thanks for stopping by ๐
LikeLike
February 10, 2017 at 2:16 pm
What a lovely park!
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 10, 2017 at 4:11 pm
Thank you for your good words and thanks for stopping by ๐
LikeLike
February 11, 2017 at 4:32 pm
It looks an incredible place ๐
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 11, 2017 at 5:12 pm
Yes, it surely is incredible! Thanks for visiting this space ๐
LikeLiked by 2 people
February 11, 2017 at 4:45 pm
Wow. What a special place.
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 11, 2017 at 5:13 pm
Thank you for your good words and for reading the post ๐
LikeLiked by 2 people
February 11, 2017 at 6:09 pm
Reblogged this on On the Road Cooking and commented:
What an amazing world we live in…
LikeLiked by 2 people
February 12, 2017 at 12:19 pm
Yes, this is an amazing world, isn’t it? Thank you so much for re-blogging the post ๐
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 12, 2017 at 7:20 pm
Manipur…North east is so mystic and beautiful ๐ loved the pictures and would love to go there some day ๐
LikeLiked by 2 people
February 13, 2017 at 11:47 am
Yes, the North east has a charm of its own. I’m happy that you liked the pictures and hope that soon you’d visit the place. Many thanks ๐
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 12, 2017 at 7:33 pm
I am so happy reading this, especially because this marvel of nature is in India!
You’ve covered it so well too…I wish those animals keep enjoying themselves in their natural habitat!
LikeLiked by 2 people
February 13, 2017 at 12:36 pm
Yes, this marvelous place is in a far corner of India, that is the wonderful part of it ๐ Many thanks for the appreciation.
LikeLiked by 2 people
February 14, 2017 at 6:27 pm
Fascinating and beautiful photos. Reminds me of the Everglades National Park in the southeastern U.S. Try googling. I bet you’d like it!
LikeLiked by 2 people
February 15, 2017 at 6:08 am
Yes, I’ll surely check this place on google, thank you so much for your valuable input.’
I am happy that you liked the photos and thanks for visiting this space ๐
LikeLiked by 2 people
February 23, 2017 at 2:01 pm
This is amazing! I enjoyed all of your pictures.
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 23, 2017 at 5:28 pm
Nature has many such amazing things, isn’t it? I’m glad that you liked the pictures. Thank you ๐
LikeLike
March 4, 2017 at 2:51 pm
Loved your travel post. Never knew that such a part existed in Manipur. Thanks for sharing your travel ๐
LikeLiked by 1 person
March 4, 2017 at 5:36 pm
i am glad that you liked the post ๐
(I would like to mention that this is a researched and compiled blog)
LikeLiked by 1 person
March 4, 2017 at 6:21 pm
๐ ๐
LikeLiked by 1 person
March 7, 2017 at 11:18 am
Yeah, that’s the tietck, sir or ma’am
LikeLike
March 12, 2017 at 2:48 am
Trippy little lizard!
LikeLiked by 1 person
March 13, 2017 at 1:57 pm
Thank you for reading the post ๐
LikeLiked by 1 person
June 28, 2017 at 11:02 pm
Awesome post
http://naturemagazin.com/black-panther-interesting-information/
LikeLiked by 1 person
June 30, 2017 at 7:32 am
Thank you so much for visiting this space and for your good words ๐
LikeLiked by 1 person
July 8, 2017 at 9:46 pm
thank You
LikeLiked by 1 person
June 30, 2017 at 7:40 am
I read your post (But failed to log in, to write a comment there). Amazing information presented so well! Yes, conservation and tougher laws are the need of the day.
LikeLiked by 1 person
July 8, 2017 at 9:46 pm
thank You
LikeLiked by 1 person