The Tonlé Sap ( ទន្លេសាប, "Fresh River" or "Great Lake" in Khmer) is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. The size of the lake varies during the year, anywhere from 970 to 1160 square miles/2,500-3,000 square kilometers in the dry season to over 6,200 square miles/16,000 square kilometers in the wet season, seeing an increase in lake level up to 33 feet/10 meters. The lake is considered part of the Mekong River system, connecting with the Mekong river through the 75 mile/120 km long Tonlé Sap River.
An interesting fact: The bulk of the water that inflows into the lake is due to the Mekong River (over 53%). Due to the nature of the weather, in the dry season the Tonlé Sap drops below the level of the Mekong River and thus effectively the flow of the Tonlé Sap River is reversed (sort of) until the restoration of the water through the monsoon season.
Departing - at least where we did - seemed like leaving any dam related dock I have left in my life.
Interesting. Do people do much boating on the lake? Fishing?
ReplyDeleteLeigh, it is very much a "Working" lake, being a main supplier of fish for the region. As to boating...stay tuned for tomorrow's episode!
DeleteThat's quite the swing in water area TB, an awful lot of brown water.
ReplyDeleteNylon12, the change in water is stunning to me.
DeleteWe are still in fairly shallow water at this point, but it deepens out.
It would be quite interesting living along a river that flowed in different directions depending on the season. I wonder if that leads to unique flora and fauna along the river?
ReplyDeleteEd, although we did not see a lot of said fauna (only flora), it is considered a very unique ecological system.
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