Geography of the Tonle Sap Lake
- The Tonle Sap has many floating and permanent towns surrounding the lake. These towns include Chong Khneas, Kampong Phluk, Kampong Khleang Moat Khla, Prek Kra, Kbal Taol and Prek toal which is also a bird sanctuary. All of these towns tend to be situated on or next to a river of some kind with highways running on either side of the lake
- Siem Reap is one of the largest towns near the Tonle Sap and the capital of the Siem Reap District. It is located approximately 14km from the Tonle Sap Lake by a main road And has the Siem Reap river flowing through the town to the same lake. Siem Reap has its own international airport as well as the National Road 6 crossing directly through it. Siem Reap is located north West of Phnom Penh and is approximately 314km from the capital if using the National Road 6.
- Chong Khneas (Chong Kaoh Nea) is easily the most accessible town on the Tonle Sap due to it being the closest town to Siem Reap (Siemréab) spanning approximately 11-15km. Due to Chong Kneas being so close to Siem Reap it is a big spot for tourism. Chong Khneas doesn’t appear to have much in the way of rivers and water flow but does have some rivers in the surrounding area
- The Tonle Sap Lake has many rivers running into it, the biggest being the Tonle Sap River. Other rivers include Stung Sen, Stung Sreng, Stung Pursat, Stung Sisophon, Stung Mongkul Borey, and Stung Sâng Kae. The Mekong delta is located southeast of the lake. To the south west of the tonle sap lies the cardamom mountains which has the highest point of elevation in Cambodia (Phnom Aural) reaching 1771 m high. To the north of the Tonle Sap lies the Dangrek Mountains which averages a height of 450-600m
- The Tonle Sap-Mekong lowlands tend to generally be around 100m in elevation, which is why the area floods and becomes the huge lake in the wet season.
This information is useful for our project because we are looking into hydropower and this information reveals that most towns can be affected by our project and most are accessible
Siem reap is the most accessible town near the lake which can come in use if supplies are in need and the town we are working on is in close vicinity. The river flowing through the town could also be a possible location for our project
This town could be a very good and easy place to situate our project due to the accessibility of the town. Supplies can easily be delivered to this area of the Tonle Sap Lake.
All the listed rivers can be potential locations for our project. Rivers from the cardamom or Dangrek mountains could possibly have higher flow rates which would mean more energy generated.
These areas generally wont have much flow to them so our project shouldn’t be near here
References
Tonle Sap Lake and the Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary, Cambodia travel Guides, viewed on the 9th of August 2009.
Google Maps, 2009 Google viewed on the 9th of August 2009.
Tonle Sap Map, Cambodia-map.com, viewed on the 9th of August 2009.
General Information about Siem reap, Welcome to Siem Reap District, viewed on the 9th of August 2009.
Cambodia, Wepa, viewed on the 10th of August 2009.
Dangrek Mountains, Encyclopedia Britannica viewed on the 10th of August 2009.
Cambodia Geography, Mongabay.com, Viewed on the 10th of August 2009.
Martyn Anderson
20515768
11th of August 2009