MANIPUR shares 352 km common International boundary with Myanmar and lies south of Nagaland, north of Mizoram and east of Assam. It covers an area of 22,327 sq. km with a population of 23,88,634(Provisional census 2001). Manipur is a mosaic of traditions and cultural patterns.

The wet forests, the temperate forest and the pine forests occur between 900-2700 metres above sea level and they together sustain a host of rare and endemic plant and animal life. There are around 500 varieties of orchids which grow in Manipur of which 472 have so far been identified. Hoolock gibbon, Slow loris, Clouded leopard, Mrs. Hume's Barebacked pheasant, Blyth's Tragopan, Hornbills etc. form only a part of the natural heritage of Manipur. However, the most unique is the "Sangai", the dancing deer. The floating mass of vegetation on the Loktak Lake sustains small herds of this endemic deer which is the most threatened species in the world.