Loktak Lake is the largest freshwater lake in north-east India and one of the most distinctive bodies of water in the country. It covers about 290 square kilometres and is famous for the phumdis — the rafts of vegetation, mud and decomposing plants that drift on its surface in patterns that look from the air like a green honeycomb. Some of the larger phumdis support stilted fishing huts and small communities of people who live and work on them year-round.
Most visitors see the lake from boats hired at the jetty near Moirang or at Sendra Island viewpoint to the north. Sunrise and sunset are spectacular; mornings often start with mist rising off the water and gradually peeling back to reveal the rings of phumdi. The lake is the centrepiece of the Loktak–Keibul Lamjao ecological complex and is on India's tentative UNESCO World Heritage list.