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River

Tonle Sap River

112 km from source to mouth · Cambodia.

CambodiaCambodiaFlows into Mekong River3rd longest in Cambodia

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouth
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

112km

Average flow

1,600m³/s

Basin

85,000km²

Drop

1m

from 5 m to 4 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

112 km of river and 12 stops on the way: 5 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

54 m4 m
Tonle Sapat 5 m0 km
Beng Totung Thngnay0.7 km²37 km
Beng Stung Rat1.3 km²37 km
Boeng Kanlaeng Chhdaor0.4 km²71 km
Beng Prang0.6 km²74 km
Beng Reachisey0.6 km²101 km
Mekong Riverat 4 m112 km
0255075100112 km
  1. 0 kmTonle Sapat 5 m
  2. 37 kmBeng Totung Thngnay0.7 km²
  3. 37 kmBeng Stung Rat1.3 km²
  4. 71 kmBoeng Kanlaeng Chhdaor0.4 km²
  5. 74 kmBeng Prang0.6 km²
  6. 75 kmLongveaek9,606 people
  7. 101 kmBeng Reachisey0.6 km²
  8. 102 kmChrang Chamreh Muoy22,911 people
  9. 108 kmBoeng Kak Muoy13,861 people
  10. 108 kmChroy Changva Bridge
  11. 109 kmTœ̆k L’ák9,334 people
  12. 109 kmBoeung Kak0.7 km²
  13. 110 kmPhnom Penh1,573,544 people
  14. 112 kmMekong Riverat 4 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in Cambodia

At the mouth it carries 1,640 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 1.5 seconds. Its basin covers 85,000 km², about the size of AT. 6.7 million people live in it. Highest water: from September to October; lowest: from January to April. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • Phnom PenhLargest city on its banks · 1,573,544 people
  • Techo International Airport (KTI)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 22 km from the city
  • On the water29 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From December to JanuaryThe best months to visit

Tonle Sap River, month by month

Highest water: from September to October

Lowest water: from January to April. Best months to visit: from December to January.

800
26°6 mmJan
520
27°11 mmFeb
560
29°35 mmMar
740
30°67 mmApr
1,600
29°169 mmMay
2,300
29°176 mmJun
2,900
28°189 mmJul
3,300
28°216 mmAug
3,800
28°240 mmSep
4,200
27°244 mmOct
3,200
27°97 mmNov
1,900
26°23 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 520 m³/s in the lowest month to 4,200 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.

Plan the trip

Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The basin

Tonle Sap River: the basin in numbers

88,240 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.0% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 6.7millionpeople live in the basin
  • 78/km²people per km²
  • 88maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,475mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 27.1°Caverage air temperature
  • 20%protected areas
  • 3.1%covered by lakes

What covers the basin

  • 31% Forest
  • 23% Cropland
  • 9% Pasture
  • 2% Towns and cities

RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.

Along the river

Tonle Sap River: what you find on the way

  • 29Ferry piersSamaki 028 Ferry Dock, Marina Port of Phnom Penh, Sohka Hotel Ferry and 26 more

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.4 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Tonle Sap River in our other atlases

What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.

  • 6lakes on its wayLakeyas

Lakes and reservoirs (6)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Beng Totung Thngnaykm 440.7km²
  2. Beng Stung Ratkm 451.3km²
  3. Boeng Kanlaeng Chhdaorkm 860.4km²
  4. Beng Prangkm 890.6km²
  5. Beng Reachiseykm 1210.6km²
  6. Boeung Kakkm 1300.7km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Tonle Sap River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Tonle Sap River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth41 km across

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.

Photos

Tonle Sap River in pictures

Phnom Penh (50922190262)
Rômulo Gama Ferreira from Vitória-ES · CC BY 2.0
20171129 Tonle Sap Lake Cambodia 6200 DxO
Jakub Hałun · CC BY-SA 4.0
Tonle Sap and Mekong - panoramio
Adriaan Castermans · CC BY-SA 3.0
Sangkat Tonle Basak, Phnom Penh 12301, Cambodia - panoramio (6)
Fumihiko Ueno · CC BY 3.0

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q939958) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesLakeyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every source and licence is on the data sources page.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit