Do something, not just see something

Experienceshosted by the person whose craft it actually is.

A day at the loom in Wangkhei, black pottery in Andro, a fisherman’s dawn on Loktak, a kitchen where the eromba is pounded in front of you. Nothing here is a demonstration put on for visitors.

Experiences: 18
Districts: 6
From, hours: 2
From, per person: ₹800

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18 experiences

Editors’ pick
CuisineImphal West
Meitei Home Cooking: Eromba, Singju and Chak-hao Kheer
Singjamei, Imphal West · hosted by Bina Devi
Spend a morning in a working Imphal kitchen learning the three dishes that define Meitei food. You will pound ngari (fermented fish) and roasted chillies into eromba, hand-toss a singju salad of banana flower, lotus stem and perilla seed, and set chak-hao kheer from Manipur's black rice. The class ends with you eating what you made, served the traditional way on a leaf.
Duration
3 hr 30 min
Maximum group size
Up to 8
Run in
English · Meiteilon
Price per person: ₹1,400 / person
4.9out of 5(64)
Editors’ pick
AdventureBishnupur
Dawn Canoe Through the Loktak Phumdis
Thanga, Loktak Lake · hosted by Tomba Singh
Push off from Thanga at first light in a single-paddle wooden canoe and thread the channels between the floating phumdis while the mist is still on the water. Your host is a lake fisherman who will show you how an athaphum fish ring is built and maintained, and where the sangai country begins. Two hours on the water, ending with hot tea on the bank.
Duration
2 hr 30 min
Maximum group size
Up to 6
Run in
English · Meiteilon
Price per person: ₹900 / person
4.9out of 5(88)
Editors’ pick
TextileImphal West
At the Loom: Weaving Moirang Phee
Singjamei, Imphal West · hosted by Moirangthem Bina
Sit at a loin loom beside a weaver who has made Moirang Phee for three decades and learn how the distinctive temple-spire border is counted and thrown. You will warp a small piece, weave a band of your own and take it home. Along the way you will learn to tell a machine-made phanek from a handwoven one, useful before you shop at Ima Keithel.
Duration
3 hours
Maximum group size
Up to 4
Run in
English · Meiteilon
Price per person: ₹1,200 / person
4.9out of 5(36)
Editors’ pick
MusicImphal West
Manipuri Classical Dance: A Beginner's Workshop
Uripok, Imphal West · hosted by Radha Devi, Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy alumna
Manipuri is one of India's eight classical dance forms and the gentlest of them: no stamping, no sharp angles, everything carried in a continuous curve. In this workshop a trained dancer teaches the basic chali movements, the hand gestures of the Raas Leela, and the body line that makes the style recognisable. You will also try on the potloi, the stiff cylindrical skirt worn in Raas.
Duration
3 hours
Maximum group size
Up to 10
Run in
English · Meiteilon
Price per person: ₹1,600 / person
4.8out of 5(41)
Editors’ pick
WildlifeBishnupur
Sangai at First Light: Keibul Lamjao Guided Safari
Keibul Lamjao National Park · hosted by Ningthoujam Somorjit, wildlife guide
A naturalist-led dawn visit to the only floating national park on earth, timed for the window when the sangai comes out onto the open phumdi. You will work the Pabot and Toya watchtowers with a spotting scope, learn to read the phumdi's structure, and pick up the hog deer, otters and winter waterfowl that most visitors miss entirely.
Duration
4 hours
Maximum group size
Up to 6
Run in
English · Meiteilon
Price per person: ₹1,800 / person
4.8out of 5(57)
Editors’ pick
CuisineImphal West
Ima Keithel Market Walk and Tasting
Khwairamband Bazar, Imphal · hosted by Thoibi Devi
Two and a half hours through the three halls of the world's largest all-women market with a guide who can name everything on the floor: ngari, hawaijar (fermented soybean), yongchak (stink bean), heibi mangan, wild greens, river fish, black rice. You will taste six or seven things as you go and finish with a plate of singju from a stall the locals actually use.
Duration
2 hr 30 min
Maximum group size
Up to 10
Run in
English · Meiteilon
Price per person: ₹950 / person
4.8out of 5(72)
Editors’ pick
CraftImphal East
Andro Black Pottery: Building Without a Wheel
Andro village · hosted by Nongthombam Prem
Andro's potters build entirely by hand (no wheel, no mould), coiling the local black clay and beating it into shape with a wooden paddle and a stone anvil. In this half-day workshop you will prepare clay, build a small pot, and watch a batch go into an open pit fire. Your piece is fired and can be collected or posted on.
Duration
4 hours
Maximum group size
Up to 8
Run in
English · Meiteilon
Price per person: ₹1,100 / person
4.7out of 5(45)
FestivalImphal East
An Evening at Lai Haraoba
Rotating village venues around Imphal East and Bishnupur · hosted by Discover Manipur cultural desk with local Lai Haraoba committees
Lai Haraoba, the 'pleasing of the gods', is the oldest surviving ritual performance in Manipur: maibi priestesses dancing the creation of the world, night after night, in village courtyards through spring and early summer. Attend with a guide who can explain the sequence, the hand gestures and the thougal jagoi that closes the evening. Held only in season.
Duration
3 hours
Maximum group size
Up to 10
Run in
English · Meiteilon
Price per person: ₹800 / person
4.9out of 5(18)
AdventureUkhrul
Sunrise Photography Hike, Shirui Ridge
Shirui village, Ukhrul · hosted by Rahul Sharma, landscape photographer
Leave Ukhrul at 3:30 AM, climb the lower Shirui ridge in the dark and be in position as the cloud sea below the Tangkhul hills catches the first light. The guide is a working landscape photographer who will help with composition, exposure and the specific problem of shooting into high-contrast dawn. In May and June the Shirui lily is in bloom along the route.
Duration
6 hours
Maximum group size
Up to 6
Run in
English · Hindi
Price per person: ₹2,200 / person
4.8out of 5(29)
AdventureImphal West
Sagol Kangjei: Meet the Manipuri Pony
Mapal Kangjeibung, Imphal West · hosted by Manipur Horse Riding and Polo Association coaches
Polo began here, and the Manipuri pony that carries it is now an endangered breed with fewer than a thousand animals left. At a working stable near the Imphal polo ground you will meet the ponies, learn the seven-a-side rules of Sagol Kangjei, handle the cane-headed stick, and, if you can ride, take a few turns at walking pace on the turf.
Duration
2 hr 30 min
Maximum group size
Up to 6
Run in
English · Meiteilon
Price per person: ₹1,700 / person
4.7out of 5(33)
MusicImphal West
Pung Cholom: The Drum Dance, Explained
Uripok, Imphal West · hosted by Guru Khumanthem Bihari
Pung cholom is the drum dance that opens every Manipuri classical performance: the player dances while drumming, leaping and spinning without losing a beat. In this session a pung master demonstrates the form, teaches the basic strokes and rhythms on a practice drum, and explains how the pung's two heads are tuned with rice paste.
Duration
2 hours
Maximum group size
Up to 8
Run in
English · Meiteilon
Price per person: ₹1,100 / person
4.7out of 5(19)
AdventureImphal West
Imphal by Bicycle: Kangla to the War Cemetery
Starts at Kangla West Gate, Imphal · hosted by Yumnam Rajen
A flat 14 km loop on the quiet back lanes of Imphal at first light, linking Kangla, the Govindajee temple, Ima Keithel, the polo ground and the Imphal War Cemetery. A guide sets the pace and fills in the history at each stop. The valley is flat, the morning air is cool, and you see far more of the city than any car will show you.
Duration
3 hr 30 min
Maximum group size
Up to 8
Run in
English · Meiteilon
Price per person: ₹1,050 / person
4.7out of 5(31)
CraftUkhrul
Bamboo and Cane Craft with a Tangkhul Maker
Ukhrul town · hosted by A. S. Ngalung
Manipur's hill households make almost everything from bamboo and cane: baskets, fish traps, rain hats, storage bins. In this workshop you split and shave your own strips and weave a small carrying basket under the eye of a maker who has been doing it since childhood. Slow, absorbing work and a genuinely useful object at the end.
Duration
4 hours
Maximum group size
Up to 6
Run in
English · Tangkhul
Price per person: ₹1,000 / person
4.6out of 5(24)
AgricultureThoubal
A Day in the Chak-hao Paddy
Thoubal town outskirts · hosted by Chaoba Singh
Chak-hao, Manipur's aromatic black rice, carries a Geographical Indication tag and takes far longer to cook and to grow than ordinary rice. Spend a day on a Thoubal smallholding: transplanting or harvesting depending on the season, learning how the crop is dried and stored, and eating a full farm lunch that ends with chak-hao kheer.
Duration
6 hours
Maximum group size
Up to 8
Run in
English · Meiteilon
Price per person: ₹1,300 / person
4.6out of 5(21)
WellnessImphal West
Thang-Ta: An Introduction to Manipuri Martial Arts
Khuman Lampak, Imphal West · hosted by Huyen Lallong akhada, Imphal
Thang-ta (literally sword and spear) is Manipur's indigenous martial art, taught as three layers: the ritual, the performance and the combat. This two-hour introduction covers footwork, the basic sword forms and the breathing that underpins them, with a demonstration of the full sequence by senior practitioners at the end.
Duration
2 hours
Maximum group size
Up to 10
Run in
English · Meiteilon
Price per person: ₹1,000 / person
4.6out of 5(26)
AgricultureTamenglong
Tamenglong Orange Harvest
Tamei, Tamenglong district · hosted by Gyaneshori Kamei
The Tamenglong orange is a GI-tagged mandarin grown on the steep slopes of western Manipur, sweeter and thinner-skinned than anything you will find in a city market. Come in December or January to pick with a Rongmei grower, learn how the orchards are terraced and pruned, and carry home as much fruit as you can manage.
Duration
5 hours
Maximum group size
Up to 8
Run in
English · Rongmei
Price per person: ₹1,200 / person
4.6out of 5(15)
CuisineThoubal
Ngari and Hawaijar: Manipur's Fermented Larder
Thoubal and Kakching · hosted by Khundrakpam Ibohal
Meitei cooking is built on fermentation. This half-day takes you to a ngari (fermented fish) producer and a hawaijar (fermented soybean) household, explains how each is made and aged, and finishes with a tasting that puts both alongside soibum (fermented bamboo shoot) and morok metpa chilli paste. Confronting for some palates, and the fastest route to understanding the cuisine.
Duration
4 hours
Maximum group size
Up to 8
Run in
English · Meiteilon
Price per person: ₹1,250 / person
4.5out of 5(23)
WellnessBishnupur
Herbal Bath and Meitei Wellness Afternoon
Ningthoukhong, Bishnupur · hosted by Ningthoujam Ibotombi
A slow afternoon of traditional Meitei wellness practice on a Bishnupur smallholding: a herbal steam using leaves from the kitchen garden, a session with a practitioner of traditional massage, and a light meal of kangshoi and herbal tea built around the same plants. Suitable for anyone recovering from a long trekking or road day.
Duration
3 hours
Maximum group size
Up to 4
Run in
English · Meiteilon
Price per person: ₹1,500 / person
4.5out of 5(14)