TONLE SAP

Tonle Sap Lake is the agricultural heart of Cambodia; the surplus food production which the region allowed was the economic basis on which the Angkorean Empire was constructed. The huge lake forms part of the Tonle River which is a tributary of the Mekong. They join at Phnom Penh in the south of the country after flowing across the flat, low-lying plain of west-central Cambodia. Every year in the rainy season, when the level of the Mekong rises, the flow in the Tonle River reverses to fill the lake, more than doubling its size. The Angkoreans created water management systems with huge tanks many hectares in extent which allowed them to grow two or even more rice harvests in a year, and the fish teeming in the lake provided a ready source of protein. It is also a biosphere reserve, rich in bird-life, and a bird sanctuary has been created at Preak Toal which we visited, although the water level was rather low as the rainy season had not yet broken. We left Siem Reap at 05:00 and travelled by tuktuk to the point from which boat services into the lake departed. After climbing on board our launch, we set out down a narrow channel in which the water was a toxic sludge of mud, oil and nameless residues left by the water buffaloes which wallowed along the banks, laced with plastic bags and other litter. Not very attractive! After half an hour we came out on another waterway which took us up through a floating village (one of 170 around the lake’s shores!). The church... We arrived at the park information office (deserted) and were transhipped onto another boat for the trip to the bird sanctuary. Our boatman spoke not a word of English but could help identify some bird species by pointing in the bird book… We saw plenty of water birds, including painted storks, a lesser adjutant(!) and herons. At one point a portage was necessary. Unfortunately much of the area we visited was choked with water hyacinth. We never saw the open lake at all, but stuck to waterways – some quite wide where people were standing in water up to their necks fishing. It was a great way of having a break from temples!