Life on the Water: The Floating Villages of Tonle Sap

Tonle Sap is one of the world’s most unique water systems. During the rainy season, the Tonle Sap river actually changes direction and flows backwards, causing the lake level to rise dramatically—sometimes all the way to the tops of the trees!

Tonle Sap Lake View — The vast expanse of the lake with floating structures in the distance.

On top of this massive lake sit the floating villages. Lots of small, simple houses float in the middle of the water, surrounded on all sides by the lake. Locals rely entirely on boats to travel across the village or away from it; every family owns one. Some vessels use paddles, but most use loud, simple motors to get around.

Floating House on Tonle Sap — A typical floating home on the lake.

Blue Floating Shack with Laundry — A small blue home with laundry hanging out to dry.

Large Floating House — A larger two-story floating home.

Although Tonle Sap is in Cambodia, the people living in this particular floating village are Vietnamese. It’s a fully functioning community on the water—you can see children, pets, and families standing on their floating porches. There’s even a school, businesses, and places of worship, all built on rafts and boats.

Floating Shrine — A place of worship on the water.

Floating Shack with Boat — Daily life on the water: clothes drying and the family boat parked out front.

The Crocodile Farm

We visited a crocodile farm in the village, which is basically a tiny, floating zoo. It was clearly a tourist attraction, and I even got to hold a baby crocodile that lived with its siblings in a bucket.

The farm also housed many large adult reptiles, catfish, a mongoose, a guinea pig, lizards, and a civet (copi luwak). However, the animals lived in tight enclosures. Seeing the luwak cowering in its cage and the mongoose pacing restlessly made me pity them. While the farm was fascinating, it was definitely not up to our standard of “ethical” animal treatment.

They also sold rice wines with cobras and scorpions preserved inside the bottles, along with crocodile skulls and animal skin shows and attire.

Snake and Scorpion Wine — Rice wine bottles containing preserved cobras and scorpions.

Sunset on the Lake

After the farm, we watched the sunset from our boat. It was a warm, beautiful night. It was incredibly interesting to see such a different lifestyle in person. As we drifted, I saw a tiny local toddler waving to me from his mother’s boat, and I could only wonder what opportunities lie ahead for the villagers living this unique life on the water.

Boat at Sunset — Golden hour on the water.

Sunset over Tonle Sap Lake — A beautiful sunset over the floating village.

— Abbey