« back to collection

The Intha People (40 images)

View: 100 | All
  • Inle lake, Myanmar's second largest freshwater lake, is the source of life for about 700,000 people who live on and around its waters -- primarily members of the Intha minority. <br /> <br /> The Intha are a fascinating people, primarily farmers and fishermen. Most are devout Buddhists, and live in simple houses of wood and woven bamboo on stilts.<br /> <br /> Because of its unusual shallowness, the surface of Inle Lake is covered in a thick carpet of reeds and floating plants, making it difficult to navigate a boat while remaining seated. In response, Intha fishermen have developed a unique rowing style that requires standing on one leg, while simultaneously wrapping their free leg around a single oar and then using it to steer and row. <br /> <br /> In these images, I aspire to show characteristic expressions of the Intha way of life, along side the challenges which threaten it -- like the effects of increasing lake pollution due to the use of chemical fertilizers. <br /> <br /> The water from the lake is essential to the people for drinking, cleaning, traveling, farming and fishing. <br /> <br /> Recently, however, massive use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides imported from China and Thailand, along with poor sanitation, a growing population, and a surge in tourism has severely polluted the once drinkable lake waters. <br /> <br /> Local officials and NGOs are pushing useage of organic fertilisers to turn the situation around, but nonetheless tests show that the water is polluted to what the UNDP calls a "critical” level. <br /> <br /> Additionally, the lake's water level has steadily been decreasing, causing local fishermen and farmers to worry about their livelihoods.










  • Burmese teenage girl counts dry cheroots leaves used for packaging. The cigar-making workshop is located in a tradional wooden-house on stilts at Inle Lake. Through the window, a young boy watches her working.

















  • A Padaung woman with brass rings around her neck weaves robes near the Inle Lake at Nyaungshwe township in Shan State, Myanmar, Nov. 15, 2013. Inle Lake is the second largest lake in Myanmar where Intha People live. Most transportation on the lake is traditionally by small boats practicing unique rowing style with only one quant. (Xinhua/U Aung)

  • A Padaung woman with brass rings around her neck in Inle Lake at Nyaungshwe township in Shan State, Myanmar, Nov. 15, 2013. Inle Lake is the second largest lake in Myanmar where Intha People live.











  • nle Lake is a freshwater lake located in the Nyaungshwe Township of Taunggyi District of Shan State, part of Shan Hills in Myanmar (Burma). It is the second largest lake in Myanmar with an estimated surface area of 44.9 square miles (116 km2), and one of the highest at an altitude of 2,900 feet (880 m). Although the lake is not large, it contains a number of endemic species. Over twenty species of snails and nine species of fish are found nowhere else in the world. Some of these, like the silver-blue scaleless Sawbwa barb, the crossbanded dwarf danio, and the Lake Inle danio, are of minor commercial importance for the aquarium trade.

View: 100 | All