Tonlé Sap (the Great Lake) is Cambodia’s most distinctive geographical feature, swelling to a massive 12 000 square kilometres during the rainy season.

The lake and its floodplains are a key fishing and agricultural region, contributing significantly to the country’s economy.

It also has plenty to offer visitors: traditional floating villages inhabited by a diversity of Vietnamese, Khmer and Muslim residents; superb birdlife (particularly in the Prek Toal Biosphere Reserve); and an amazing array of aquatic wildlife and birdlife, including the almost-extinct Siamese crocodile, as well as turtles, otters, giant Mekong catfish and more than 100 species of waterbirds.