Manipur

The word Manipur is derived from the two words “Mani” which means ‘Jewel’ and “Pur” means “City or place”, so, in the words of Jawaharlal Nehru, Manipur is the “Jewel of India” which described its meaning too.

The place is so beautiful and attractive that Lord Irwin called Manipur as “Switzerland of India” Mrs. St. Clair Grimwood accolades Manipur as “A Pretty Place more beautiful than many show places of the world”. The tourism of Manipur gives immeasurable enjoyment and pleasure with its exotic landscape, undulating hills, green valleys, blue lakes and dense forests situated in the northeastern region of India and surrounded by Upper Myanmar in the east, Cachar district of Assam in the west, Nagaland in the north and Mizoram in the south.


Tourist Attractions in Manipur

Manipur tourism is richly endowed with natural beauty of waterfalls, lakes, streams, evergreen forests surrounded by nine sub-Himalayan ranges that attracted the tourists from all over the world for its many other tourist attractions. Some of the famous tourist attractions of the capital city of Manipur are Manipur State Museum, Shahid Minar, Shri Govindaji Temple which is dedicated to Lord Krishna; Khwairamband Bazar is the largest women's bazar in the country famous in the world for handicrafts and handloom wears; the War Cemeteries commemorates all those British and Indian army who died in the second world war which are maintained by the Commonwealth War Grave Commission.

Famous Cities of Manipur
Manipur attracted the tourists from all over the world for its numerous tourist attractions blessed by the nature with its extreme beauty. Some of the famous tourist attractions of Manipur are Bishnupur famous for the Bishnu Temple, Keibul Lamjao National Park, Loktak Lake and Sendra Island, Phubala, Ecological Park; Chandel district of Manipur is famous for Tengnoupal, Moreh etc; Churachandpur is one of the most beautiful places which attracted the tourists for the handicraft market, Tonglon cave etc; Senapati in Manipur is one of the nine districts of Manipur which attracted the tourists with its Mao hill stations, historical place of Makhel etc; Tamenglong is blessed with natural beauty of virgin forests, exotic orchids, rare and endangered plants, wildlife, waterfalls at the River Barak, Tharon Cave, Zeilad lake and Buning meadow.

Wildlife Tourism in Manipur
Besides its famous tourist places of Manipur it is also blessed with amazing variety of flora and fauna along with hill tract covered forests. The Manipur wildlife tourism offers the tourists to explore the hidden beauty of North East India. There are two main spots of wildlife tourism in Manipur one is Keibul Lamjao National Park which is famous for its rare or unusual flora and fauna. Another spot of wildlife tourism in Manipur is Manipur Zoological Garden located at a distance of about 6 km. from Imphal. Manipur Zoological Garden is famous all over the world for one of the rarest species in the world – the graceful brow antlered deer also known as Sangai.