Cambodia Chronicles - The Tonlé Sap : One Of Asia's Mighty Rivers Is Reversing The Direction Of It's Flow Now!!!
I know the title of this post sounds worrying but this is a normal process that happens twice a year! As I'm here to watch it live I thought I would share this experience with my Steemian community!
The Tonlé Sap is a tributary to the mighty Mekong River which feeds and drains the Tonlé Sap lake. This incredible process deserves some representation here on Steemit... So lets float down this river that changes its direction twice a year!
The Amazing Tonlé Sap
The Tonlé Sap river runs into the Mekong passing through the great Tonlé Sap lake. This lake is the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia and plays an integral role in feeding Cambodia's population. As the yearly monsoon rains swell the mighty Mekong, the water flow in the Mekong becomes so powerful that the water pressure overpowers that of the Tonlé Sap, forcing the Tonlé Sap to reverse direction and flow upstream! (or should I say upstreem??? LOL!) 😉 During this process the Tonlé Sap can grow by 15 times! This annual flooding provides fish and fertiliser to the majority of the Cambodian population.
This is a very important yearly event as the flooding of the Tonlé Sap lake provides much of the protein and rice for Cambodia's population. It is not too much to say that if this process did not take place, major famine and disruption would sweep much of Cambodia!
To mark this yearly process Cambodia holds it's yearly Dragon Boat races where the Mekong meets the Tonlé Sap in Phnom Penh. Today was the first day of 3 days of competition and apparently the the riverside is packed with people from around the country. I did not attend today but I have been invited to a private party tomorrow on the rivers edge with a bunch of professional footballers that I have become friendly with!
I will write more about this fascinating river as I explore it on foot, by bike and by swimming through it! 😉
Jockey loves you All and crazy reversing rivers! 😉
Thanks for sharing. I'm planning on going to Cambodia in March next year!
awesome
nice!