Tonlé sap

 

Tonlé sap is a lake in Northwest Cambodia. It is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia and a major component of the Mekong River system.

Tonlé sap houses a floating market and provides a large revenue for the government through the fisheries industry. 

Tonlé sap is the only freshwater lake in the world that reverses its direction of flow during the monsoon (wet monsoon/rainy) season. It also helps prevent flooding of the Mekong basin in the rainy season.

UNESCO made Tonlé sap a biosphere reserve because of its high biodiversity. It has more than 140 species of fish out of which 11 are endangered species.

Tonlé sap provided enough fish that accounted for 60% of Cambodia’ protein intake. Because of the hydrodynamics of the lake which changes, it’s volume of water is not easy to measure.