The hills of Ukhrul district in Manipur are mostly inhabited by the Tangkhul community. These forested hills and mountains provided natural resources for the local communities residing here. The locals depend upon the forest for their day to day needs such as hunting, gathering wild edibles, timber for building houses and fuels, honey, fruits, medicinal plants etc. This in turn gave value to the natural resources found in the forested hills, which has led to conservation the forested hills by the local community. The forest hills and mountains also provided security from the raiders from plains or other villages.

The Hills of Manipur are part of the Patkai range pass north towards south though Nagaland. The origin of these hills is said to be the same tectonic processes which created the greater Himalayas, with the altitude progressively reducing as we go southward. The distinct feature of these hills is conical peaks, steep slopes and deep valleys but not as rough as the Himalayas due to lower altitude.

The highest peak of the Patkai range is Mount Saramati which lies in North Eastern Nagaland. The range then stretches up to Northern Manipur forming a natural barrier Indo Burmese border. After reaching Manipur the range is broken in four distinct ranges; the Kachouphung, the Khayangphung, the Shirui, and the Zingjui. The highest being the Kachongpung and the most famous being the Shirui. The entire area is covered with forested land which covers an area of approx 2880 sq kilometer of dense forested area. One such forest which covers more than 150 sq kilometers south of Kachongpung is known as Ango Ching. The region is bounded by the Indo Myanmar boarder towards the east, Chamu river to the east.

The name Ango Ching is a mix of Tangkhul and Meitei words – Ango is tankhul for a local bird while Ching is Meitei word for hill. Tangkhuls traditionally hunt for birds and animals and used to trap a lot of these birds in the hills hence, the name Ango Ching. There is another legend as to how this place got its name because the original inhabitants of the region – the Angom tribe which subsequently migrated to the valley. This led to the naming of the range as Angoching. It is one of the biggest longest and unexplored mountain ranges which is full of lakes and waterfalls.