Sangker River in Battambang, Cambodia
Sangker River is the main source of water for agriculture and daily uses in Battambang Province besides the Great Lake. It flows into the Tonle Sap Lake (Great Lake) from Kravanh Mountain (Cardamom Mountain) in the area near Thailand-Cambodia Borders. Sangker River has become the symbol for Battambang since it is known through many famous songs of Sin Sisamuth, Ros Sereysothea, Huy Meas, Pen Rorn, In Yeng, etc.
Through the body of this river, some places in the area on the foot of Kravanh Mountain are considered as the most attractive destination for both local tourists and international tourists in this province such as Chamlong Kuy Rapid, Sek Sork Rapid, Pechchinda Rapid, Chrolong Bopata Rapid, etc. These spots are not only the place for tourist to swim and play with water, but also to relax, to take photos, and to enjoy the scene of the nature like forest, sound of the bird & wild animal, flow of natural water over many stone in the middle of the river, and so on. Significantly, those resorts are gaining more recognition from all tourists when the smooth national road 57A was repaired to provide comforts for travelling not like before which was difficult to travel. Sangker River has also provided many fish every year, especially during 1980s in which the river was full of fish rather than today.
Furthermore, this river looked so beautiful with the clean and mirror-like water before Pol Pot Regime in contrast to nowadays that it has changed to the dusty river in which caused by mining activities for gems and washing those in the river as the responsibility of most Thai businessmen with the permission from the local authorities in Pailin Province during 1980s and 1990s. Even though there is the bad effect on Sangker River, it still plays an important role until today to provide water for agricultural activities throughout the most land of Battambang and Khmer people living in Battambang also use water from this river to use in either daily activity or business.
More than that, Sangker River has been the main water way for medium boat or small ship to travel from Battambang to other ports & vice versa since the former regime. Last but not least, this river is used every year for provincial boat racing festival (Water Festival) in order to choose the best racing boat to challenge with other racing boat from other provinces of Cambodia in the biggest Water Festival in Phnom Penh.
In brief, I think Sangker River is really important as it is the blood system for Battambang with many advantages for local people in many generations. I would like to suggest the governor of Battambang to keep their attention on the river protection and please try to recover the good view of the water in this river if possible in the future. I do believe that one day Sangker River will be the “Diamond River or Blue River” of Battambang again.
