The Great Lake Tonle Sap & Floating Fishing, Siem Reap is the most prominent feature on the map of Cambodia and one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country as well. It appears as a huge dumbbell-shaped body of water stretching across the northwest section of the country. During the wet season, the Great Lake Tonle Sap & Floating Fishing, Siem Reap is becomes one of the largest freshwater lakes in Asia. It swells to an expansive 12,000 square kilometers. During the dry half of the year the Lake shrinks to as small as 2500 square kilometers.
During the wet season a unique hydrologic phenomenon causes the river to reverse its direction, filling the lake instead of draining it. The engine of this occurrence is the Mekong River, which becomes overfed with snow melt and runoff from the monsoon rains in the wet season. The bloated Mekong backs up into the Tonle Sap River forcing the waters of the Tonle Sap River back upriver into the lake. The inflow expands the surface area of lake more than five-times, inundating the surrounding forested floodplain and supporting an extraordinarily rich and diverse eco-system.
Here you can see more than 100 varieties of water birds including several threatened and endangered species. Over 200 species of fish, as well as crocodiles, turtles, macaques, otter and other wildlife inhabit the inundated mangrove forests. The Lake is also a vital commercial resource, providing more than half of the fish consumed in Cambodia. In synchronization with the specialized ecosystems, the human occupations at the edges of the lake are similarly distinctive.
The Great Lake Tonle Sap & Floating Fishing, Siem Reap sits only about 15 kilometers south of Siem Reap town. If you take the ferryboat between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap you will cross the lake and dock at the village of Chong Khneas. There are several ways to see the culture and wildlife of the lake area depending on the time you have and your interest.
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Phnom Krom Hilltop Temple
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The Great Lake Tonle Sap & Floating Fishing |
Phnom Koulen
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Civil War Museum
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Crocodile Farm, Siem Reap
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Angkor Borie, Siem Reap
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Angkor Wat, Siem Reap
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Angkor Zoo, Siem Reap
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Banteay Kdei, Siem Reap
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Banteay Sam Re Temple, Siem Reap
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Banteay Srey Rochna, Siem Reap
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Banteay Srey Temple, Siem Reap
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Baphuon, Siem Reap
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East Mebon, Siem Reap
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Baksei Chamkrong, Siem Reap
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