Tonle Sap, Life on the Lake
The Tonle Lap (Great Lake) is part of a unique freshwater system essential to the economy of Cambodia. At the height of the rainy season, overflow from the swollen Mekong river flows through the 100 kilometre Tonle Sap river, flooding the lake with an estimated 73 billion cubic metres of nutrient rich water. During the dry season the flow of the Tonle Sap river is reversed, slowly releasing water back into the Mekong. Now, billion dollar projects to dam the upper reaches of the Mekong and its tributaries are threatening the survival of this ecosystem. Some of these images were published as a Geographical Magazine photostory, October 2000.