Community-based tourism to be established around Sonye Natural Lake

Workers collecting lotus by the lake.

Mandalay April 27

Mandalay Region’s Directorate of Hotels and Tourism is doing a research on Sonye Lake to implement community-based tourism business there, its Assistant Director U Myint Soe said.

Located near Yeywa Hydropower project in Sintgai Township in Kyaukse District of Mandalay, Sonye Lake is 11.7 square mile wide. According to the country’s renowned Historian Dr Than Tun, the Sonye Lake has situated there before Bagan Dynasty.

Currently, farmers across Sintgai and TadaU townships have received an allotted quota of water for their cultivable land from the lake through Shwetanga cannel.

Lotus, water convolvulus, water hyacinth and a kind of aquatic herb thrive in the area. Residents living in the community surrounding the lake traditionally operate lotus weaving business and fishing firms.

Currently, there are no ecotourism and communitybased tourism business in the region. That is why the survey is being conducted around the lake and nearby villages by the local authorities in cooperation with tour operators.

Yadanarpon