Tonle Sap, Khmer Bœng Tônlé Sab, natural floodplain reservoir, central Cambodia. The lake is drained during the dry season by the Sab River (Tônlé Sab) across the Véal Pôc plain southeastward to the Mekong River.

Where is the Tonle Sap located?

The Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve is located in the Northeast of Cambodia. It includes the Tonle Sap Lake, the most extensive freshwater lake in South-East Asia, which is located in the centre of the Tonle Sap Basin.

What is the Tonle Sap Lake known for?

Tonle Sap Lake is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. Also called Boeung Tonle Sap, it has one of the world's most vibrant ecosystems. There are different species of wildlife in and around the lake, which helped to sustain and grow the ancient Khmer civilization.

Are there crocodiles in Tonle Sap?

The Siamese crocodile is 99% extinct in the wild, but this ten foot, several hundred pound monster lives in Tonlé Sap Lake in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, near the convergence of the Mekong River. It is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia.

Is Tonle Sap worth visiting?

The floating villages on Tonle Sap are worth a visit, but be warned that the locals don't much like all the visiting tourists. This was the only place in Cambodia I visited where the children were not full of smiles.

Tonle Sap: Saving Cambodia's Great Lake

41 related questions found

Why is Tonle Sap important?

The Tonle Sap and the inland waters system in Cambodia support some 500,000 tons of fish each year, and the flooded forests purify water and buffer communities from storms — an increasingly important benefit as climate change makes extreme weather more frequent.

Is Tonle Sap freshwater?

The Tonle Sap Lake is the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia and one of the most productive inland fisheries in the world. The lake is connected to the Mekong River through the 100 km long Tonle Sap River.

Where is Cambodia located?

Cambodia, country on the Indochinese mainland of Southeast Asia. Cambodia is largely a land of plains and great rivers and lies amid important overland and river trade routes linking China to India and Southeast Asia.

How many provinces does Tonle Sap Lake have?

Five provinces circled the area of Tonle Sap Lake, more than three million of population inhabited around the bank of the Lake and 90% of them earn a living by catching fish and making agricultures. As you can see on the map of Cambodia It stretches across the northwest section of the country.

What happens to the Tonle Sap river and lake each year?

In June, with monsoon rains swelling the Mekong, excess water is pushed into the Tonle Sap that then drains back upstream into the lake, flooding the surrounding low plains. ... By the end of dry season, Tonle Sap has lost most of its water and resembles a swamp crisscrossed by channels.

How many floating villages does Tonle Sap have?

With more than 170 floating villages on Tonle Sap the majority of the 80,000 inhabitants are considered non-immigrant foreigners.

What is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia?

The Tonle Sap is the largest lake in Southeast Asia and is known for being a key habitat for freshwater fish and numerous endangered species.

What is the traditional food in Cambodia?

8 Best Dishes in Cambodia

• Fish amok (steamed coconut fish in banana leaves)
• Samlor machu trey (sweet and sour soup with fish)
• Char kroeung sach ko (stir-fried lemongrass beef)
• Twa ko (Cambodian sausage)
• Nom banh chok (Khmer noodles)
• Bai sach chrouk (grilled pork and broken rice)
• Kuy teav (noodle soup)

Why does the Tonle Sap flood?

In 2019, a combination of climate change, El Niño and dams on the Mekong and its tributaries caused the Tonle Sap River to reverse in August rather than June and for only six weeks instead of the usual five to six months. The resulting shallow, warm, oxygen-starved waters devastated the fisheries.

Why is the Tonle Sap lake drying up?

Drought and dams have pushed Tonle Sap into dangerous decline, threatening its swamp forests and the fish nurseries there that provide most of the nation's protein. A fishermen drives past a floating village on Tonle Sap.

In which country is the largest lake in SE Asia?

Southeast Asia's largest freshwater lake is Cambodia's Tonle Sap Lake.

How many people live on Tonle Sap lake in Cambodia?

The population of the Tonle Sap lake consists of 170 villages with a total population of 80,000 people. There are no permanent human settlements inside the Prek Toal core area, although five villages are located on the boundary of the Core Area, including the floating village of Prek Toal.

What is the capital of Cambodia?

The Royal Palace at Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Phnom Penh was founded in 1434 to succeed Angkor Thom as the capital of the Khmer nation but was abandoned several times before being reestablished in 1865 by King Norodom.

Why does the Tonle Sap river change directions?

Monsoon winds from the southwest bring a rainy season to Southeast Asia between May and October every year. The Mekong River swells so much that the Tonle Sap River is actually forced to flow backward, northward away from the sea. It's the only river in the world that goes both ways.