WARNING: A 6.7 magnitude earthquake with an epicentre 29 northwest of Imphal occurred on 3 January 2016. There have been deaths and injuries in Manipur, as well as damage. Check current conditions before travelling to Manipur.

Manipur, Republic of India

Manipur is a state in North-Eastern India. It is bordered by Assam in the west, Nagaland in the north, Myanmar (Burma) in the east, and Mizoram in the south.

Regions

Manipur is broadly divided into plain districts (Imphal East, Imphal West, Bishenpur, Thoubal) and hill districts (Ukhrul, Tamenglong, Chandel, Churachandpur, Senapati).

Cities

• 1 Imphal —

• 2 Bishnupur (Bishenpur) — a district

• 3 Thoubal —

• 4 Moreh — Start of the Trilateral Highway aka Asian Superhighway towards Thailand

Other destinations

• 1 Keibul Lamjao National Park — a floating park because of decomposed plant materials and part of the Lohtak Lake ecosystem. It provides the natural habitat for the endangered Eld's deer or brow-antlered deer (sangai). It is also home to a variety of mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles.

• 2 Sirohi National Park (Shirui National Park) — located near Ukhrul, is home to the tiger and leopard and a variety of rare bird species such as the Blyth's Tragopan. The Shirui peak during monsoon season is covered with the blooms of the exotic Shirui lily flower

Get in

Has in the past required an Inner-line permit, but may not require one at the moment; check before you go.

See

Siroy Lily Flowers

• Loktak Lake, Kangla

• Keibul Lamjao National Park

• Siroy Lily Flowers in Ukhrul

Do

• loukoipat, bishnupur (moirang). 

Eat

• Chamthong or Kangshoi is a stew preparation of any seasonal vegetables with coarsely chopped onions, maroi, ginger and salt, topped with ngari, fried fish pieces (optional)and water. It's soupy in nature and is eaten with rice.

• Eromba- Vegetables and potatoes boiled with a lot of red chillies or Umorok with ngari (fermented fish), dry fish and mashed together.

• Morok metpa is a coarse-paste prepared with green or dry red chilies. The chillies should be boiled with ngari in a pan and then it should be mashed with salt; fried fish pieces can also be added to it. chopped onions and coriander leaves should be added to it and mixed. Other dishes are- kang-hou (various vegetables fried dry in oil with traditional spices), paknam (fish cake), nga-thongba (fish curry), ooti, pakora thongba, chagem pomba, keli chana, alu kangmet (boiled potato mashed with fried red chilli and salt and dressed with mustard oil), sana thongba which is prepared with paneer in Manipuri style, a-nganba (steam vegetables, such as pumpkin, sweet pea, carrots, French beans etc.).

• Singju is a salad prepared with finely chopped cabbage, onions, lotus stems, tree beans, coriander leaves, sinju pan,ginger, heibi mana and lots of seasonal vegetables mixed with ngari. Boiled kidney beans are optional and the dish is seasoned with red chilli flakes, salted to taste, with red roasted sesame powder and roasted chick peas powder.

• Umorok – literally ‘tree chilli’ u=tree; morok = chilli. It is garnished with maroi (maroi namakpi, maroi nakuppi, awa phadigom, mayang-ton, toning-khok tilhou, coriander leaves and many more).

Stay safe

Many plains people (the Meiteis or Maytays) resent the Indian government. The hill tribes (Nagas, Kookis, Zomi/Chin) resent the Indian government, the Maytays and each other. The Zomi/Chin would like to be united in an independent state with their tribespeople in Myanmar. There are multiple competing tribal militias that extort money from their countrymen, block roads, and occasionally erupt into warfare/killing.

Imphal is generally safe (see the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office website and similar sites), but other areas should be visited only on the basis of good local information, and the word 'disturbed' means no-go.