On December 2, 2018 we visited the Keibul Lamjao National Park and Loktak Lake in Manipur, along with our Twinning partner D M College of Science, Imphal. Loktak lake is the largest freshwater lake in North-east India and is a Biodiversity Hotspot with high degree of endemism for aquatic life. Keibul Lamjao National Park is  the only floating national park which is home to the endemic Sangai Deer of Manipur.

The lake is extremely vast and covers nearly three districts in Manipur. It has very unique floating vegetation in form of circular rings all over the lake at various places in the prestine water, The floating vegetation houses many endemic species of insects as swee as aquatic plants and animals. We could spot the Sangai deer in the national park and also enjoyed walking on the floating vegetation of the national park as well as the lake.

Our students collected water samples, insects and aquatic plant samples from the loktak lake for study and research using foldscope. It was a wonderful experience for all of us to visit a Biodiversity Hotspot with such a high degree of endemism.