The Mighty Mekong

by Scott Coates

The Mekong River is one of the world’s most famous and mysterious rivers.

Cat Ba Leopard Gecko of Vietnam

Often attached to the image of war in many westerners’ minds, it’s the world’s 10th longest river, making its way through six or seven countries (depending on whether you believe Tibet is part of China), for a total length of 4,350 km.

The river starts in Tibet with runoff from glaciers. The water is quiet clear in its upper reaches but changes color, becoming quite muddy by the time it makes its way through the Yunnan region of southern China. At the physical Golden Triangle where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet, the river is very brownish in color and remains so most of the way to its final destination in the South China Sea. Passing through Tibet, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, it’s used in some fashion by roughly 60 million people per day. This is a collection of people using it for transport, trade, washing, fishing, etc. Such a number reportedly makes it the world’s most used river.

Khorat Big Mouth Frog

The Mekong is extremely important in terms of biodiversity. It’s the third most active river in the world in terms of species living in it, with roughly 1,200 species having been identified. The most active are the Congo and the Amazon in South America taking top prize. The WWF International recently announced another 162 specifies have been identified in the greater Mekong Region, and that number is likely to continue to increase as areas once inaccessible and war-torn are now peaceful and open to travel.

The world’s largest freshwater fish, the Giant Mekong Catfish (Pla Beuk), is found in the river, most commonly around Chiang Khong in NE Thailand. These giants can grow to be 3m in length and well over 200kg. Populations have declined dramatically over the last 10 years, with them now being endangered and fishermen in Thailand vowing not to fish for them anymore. Another noteworthy species includes the Irrawaddy Dolphin which is also in danger due to humans, especially the impact of dams built along the river. TIME Magazine ran a very interesting article a couple years back documenting the effect of damming the river, an activity that’s become a serious environmental issue.

With tourism in SE Asia growing by the year and development along the

A Pla Beuk caught

river booming, the fine balance between humans and nature is being tested and along with it the lives of not only the more than 1,200 species in the Mekong, but the 60 million people who depend on it everyday. Now’s the time to see this majestic river and make it an integral part of a vacation. Lets hope it’s healthy for future generations to see, enjoy and live on/with.

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