As an internationally recognised wetland, the boundaries of Ramsar Site 999 lay just North of the Mekong city of Stung Treng in Cambodia and the river frontier of The Lao Peoples Democratic Republic.

Prior to direct road access between the two nations all transportation and communication was done by boat. Two wooden huts on either side of the river acting as the official border posts. Invited to sip tea while earning your inked stamp.

Whirpools and tree branches, bending boats. A nerve-racking and fierce river ride on muddy boiling waters in the rainy season.

These beautiful river forests sculpted by endurance emerge from the flow of millions of gallons rushing through and around their root and branch structures. Flotsom suspended high above the water line. Sediment unloaded in each trunks wake. River islands in the making only to be consumed again when the rains return.

Home to the most northerly pods of Irrawaddy Dolphin on the Mekong. Numbering only a dozen or so today, the dolphins and the wetland is potentially under threat from a hydro dam currently under construction at Don Sahong just over the border in Laos in an area known as 4000 Islands.

Check out Ramsar Site 999, Cambodia in 360° here…

Learn more about the wetlands of Cambodia at www.ramsar.org

This area features quite heavily in the opening sequences of BBC Two – Wonders of the Monsoon now showing on iPlayer

This portfolio is represented by Thierry Merré, Gallery Hasy.