Tonle Sap

Tonle Sap is a large freshwater lake and river system near Siem Reap, home of the famous temples of Angkor. During the dry season, the lake is only about a meter deep and is fed by a branch of the Mekong River. With the arrival of the monsoon, the lake expands six-fold in size, to 16,000 square kilometers, filling with enough water to reverse the flow of the Mekong. Tonle Sap provides about three-quarters of the fish consumed in Cambodia. Numerous villages, with houses built on stilts, are scattered throughout the lake.