Prek Toal Bird Watching on the Tonle Sap

The Prek Toal Experience

More than simply bird watching this is a 2-day experience that gives you a taste of what it is to live on a Floating Village on the Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia. A beautiful part of Cambodia, you will be warmly welcomed by the inhabitants of the Floating Village at Prek Toal where you will also spend the night.

Very early the following morning you leave the village by boat to go bird watching in the Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary, a protected wetland area and one of the last habitats of its kind left in the world. The Bird Sanctuary supports many bird species particularly between the months of November to June but plan to make this trip before April to ensure that there is sufficient water for a boat to travel on the Tonle Sap.

Prek Toul

Prek Toal is a traditional floating village on the Tonle Sap lake in Cambodia and the doorstep into Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary, a protected conservation area and part of the Tonle Sap UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. You overnight in a Homestay run by the villagers of Prek Toal to fully experience life on the Tonle Sap.

The floating villages on the lake are pretty much self contained with hospitals, schools and convenience stores. It’s a remarkable way of life that has remained unchanged for centuries.

Bird Watching at Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary

The Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary has been described as "the single most important breeding ground in Southeast Asia for globally threatened large water birds". The Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve covers an area of 31,282 hectares and 9 Provinces in Cambodia. There are 3 core areas within the Biosphere of which Prek Toal is one and the most accessible from Siem Reap out of the 3. It is a popular destination for Bird Watchers.

Prek Toal sits on the edge of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve which was designated in October 1997. This is a unique environment where at some point during the year so much is in reverse. The Tonle Sap has a bi-directional flow depending on the season and the trees in the Biosphere Reserve are totally in reverse to all other trees in Cambodia mainly because when most trees are bursting with life, the trees in Prek Toal are underwater.

Prek Toal is a wetland habitat that is a haven for water birds. It is the largest and most important breeding ground for storks, pelicans, ibises, cormorants and darters in Southeast Asia today. The Tonle Sap is home to seventeen bird species that are listed as globally threatened or near-threatened and of these nine species depend on Prek Toal Biosphere Reserve for their survival.

The best time of year to visit for Bird Watching is the dry season as this is also the time that flocks of migratory birds descend on Prek Toal. This is also the time that the waters of the Tonle Sap recede and the numbers of birds increases. But because of low water levels, accessing certain areas becomes more difficult.

Bird Species at Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary include the Greater and Lesser Adjuncts, Black-headed Ibis, Painted Stork, Milky Stork, Spot-billed Pelican, Grey-Headed Fish Eagle and the list goes on. The most significant bird species to be found at Prek Toal are the Spot Billed Pelican and the Greater Adjutant and the populations of these two bird species at the sanctuary almost certainly represent the largest remaining populations in the world

Tonle Sap Lake

The Cambodia Tonle Sap lake is a Mekong River phenomenon and is a combined lake and river system hugely important to Cambodia. The Tonle Sap is also the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. Twice a year the flow of the Tonle Sap changes direction, expanding and contracting significantly with the seasons. During the dry season from November to April, the Tonle Sap drains into the Mekong River at Phnom Penh. During the rainy season from June to October, the Tonle Sap backs-up to form an enormous lake, 160 km long and 36 km wide.

To put this phenomenon into context, during the dry season the lake is somewhere between 2,700 to 3,000 square kilometres and between 1 and 3 metres deep. During the rainy season (monsoon season) the Tonle Sap river which flows into the Mekong River reverses its flow and the Tonle Sap expands to cover 16,000 square kilometres with a depth of between 9 and 12 metres.

The Tonle Sap is one of the most productive inland fisheries in the world and a hugely important source of protein for Cambodians. The flood plain, replenished each year with fresh silt, is also highly fertile and an important aspect in Cambodian agriculture.

The Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve

Designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in October 1997, nine provinces in Cambodia are included in the Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve (Battambang, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Thom, Preah Vihear, Pursat, Siem Reap, Otdar Meanchey and Krong Pailin).

The objective of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve is to reconcile the conservation of biodiversity with economic development. In this case is the unique habitat and flora and fauna of the Tonle Sap and Prek Toal versus commercial fishing interests, egg and bird collecting which has been significantly reduced and deforestation which has also been checked.

Where to stay in Siem Reap | Go Bird Watching on the Tonle Sap in Cambodia