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Irrawaddy
River or
Ayeyarwady from the
source to the delta
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The water
comes down from the
mountains of Kachin State,
this are offshoots of the
Tibetan Himalaya. Waters
from eternal snow move
through the whole country
and sink into the Indian
Ocean or Andaman Sea via a
wide delta.
The icy mountains of the
north with high peaks
reaching around 6000m,
deliver the water. Beside of
the water this could be a
excellent mountain tourism
destination in Kachin State,
could even be the first and
only winter sport playground
in South East Asia within a
snow and glacier setting. |
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But as usual until now there
is absolute no
infrastructure, no
accommodation, hotels etc.,
at trekking tours into this
area the preferred
accommodation is camping
tent or some local huts,
means real rustic
vacation.
The mountain
streams pictured here are
the real sources of this
great river. To define a the
real geographic starting
point the confluence of the
Mali River and N"Mai River
has been set as the start of
the Irrawaddy.
The before
mentioned streams are
nurtured by are myriads of
smaller ones coming down
from the immense glaciers of
the northern mountains which
are the real sources of
the Irrawaddy and also
of the Chindwin which are a
bit more to the west. |
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The
Ayeyarwady as it is
known in Burmese language is
also a great river cruise
destination. The
Irrawaddy Flotilla
Company
which was run by
some Scottish during
colonial times is not
anymore, sandbanks moved in
since then and navigation
the water today over long
distances is only possible
with small ships.
This
is one of the great waterways
of the world to be explored by gliding serenely on a
cruise up the narrowing waters around the Hlaing
island, the water is slow moving, brown in color and
large. Our travel leads eastwards and after to the
north.
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Yangon the
capital already seems far
away and the true Burma is
unfolding before the eyes.
The air blows |
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Ayeyarwady at Bagan
with Bupaya Pagoda |
free here over the
wide fields, green
with the young rice
; the little
villages deploy on
the water"s edge.
Great panoramas are
waiting. The top
cruise tour is
from Bagan to
Mandalay and vice
versa with the "Road
to Mandalay" and
other cruise ships,
it open up exotic
sights and sounds.
The Ayeyarwady
is Burma"s lifeline
where the
ships move, the people take their water,
wash in the morning and late afternoon
plus more. Some ships like double decker
plying the delta routes are a legacy of
the
Flotilla Company,
Glasgow, Scotland whose fleet plied the
more than 8,000 kilometers of navigable
waters of Chindwin, Thanlwin, Sittang
and the Ayeyarwady long time ago.
When the British launched their second
campaign against
Burma the East India Company supplied
four cargo steamers and a few barges to |
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be used on the
Ayeyarwady in the
war, check the
Irrawaddy Map.
The waterway became
more important when
the British took
control of lower
Burma and
established an
administration which
used these ships and
barges for their own
purposes which
mainly was passenger
and rice
transportation.
This is a mighty
waterway and has an
enormous importance
for the country as
it can be seen here
at Bagan.
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Irrawaddy river at
Bagan |
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A team of Scots took
over the small fleet
during colonial
times and
established the
"Irrawaddy Flotilla
Company" in 1865.
Initially the
Flotilla company
operated from Yangon
to Thayetmyo a
garrison town 350
miles away which
marked the northern
outpost of the
British colony. At
that time many
Irrawaddy dolphins
where still seen,
they are almost gone
today.
Recognizing the value
of the waterway
especially to the agricultural sector, since
everything was moved on this stream and
the other big waterways such as the Chindwin,
a tributary.
King Mindon
granted permission in 1868 to extend the
operation up to Mandalay. By 1885 all was
under British control and the Irrawaddy
Flotilla Company? extended their routes to Bhamo on the Ayeyarwady.
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Cruise
east of Shwebo |
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Irrawaddy ferries and Ayeyarwady Cruising |
By the time
World War II began, the company managed a
fleet of some 600 vessels mainly on the
Ayeyarwady. The Flotilla Company ceased
operations by 1948 and the fleet was taken
over by the Inland Water Transport
Department of the government (IWT).Of
the 353 mechanically powered vessels and
ferries operated 292 have exceeded their
specified serviceable life.In the case of
engine-less vessels, 184 of 266 exceeded
normal service and 52 of 69 pontoons, piers
and jetties had also outlived usual service
periods by the end of the former century.
Older vessels that should have been
retired years ago, are gradually
being replaced by larger ones bought
from China or built locally.
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slush to the water edge, the headmen makes for
himself a wooden causeway.
Long boats lie at anchor like ships of the Vikings,
or drawn up ashore mingling in the landscape with
the gardens and the palms and the brown house-tops
and we enjoy this unique Burmese travel.
The spires of monasteries are like travel marks in
the air, monks go by in small canoes under a nimbus
of yellow glory shed by their umbrellas. The fishers
spread their net"s over the water, sailing-boats
slowly move by and the white gleams of their sails
flash over the
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Burma travel |
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Great Asian river
cruises pass Sagaing Hills with Pagodas and
temples |
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country-side as they sweep along
their waterway. This is a prime Asian
tourism and travel destination, but most people
don"t know this, actually until now one of the main
problem is there is no suitable infrastructure, means
adequate hotels, river resorts and other accommodations.
It"s a great Myanmar or Burmese tour destination
but something is missing . The river look very beautiful and
a little mysterious, for the creeks lie low
below the level of the fields, the sails are
the only pattern the air and some
Irrawaddy River fishermen try their luck.
Some river banks are
broken down into the water and vast
plantations of toddy palm"s, whose
green and orange blades curve and shimmer under every
breath of the passing wind. A full hour is accomplished before the ship gets clear
of the suburbs of Yangon, and into the heart of the
country.
Near Yangon itself there is a different
picture, scarcely less attractive ; for the waterway
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Irrawaddy delta rice
boats |
pulses there with the life of a great city
bordering the Indian Ocean. Irrawaddy cargo-boats
heavily laden, move slowly ; sampans move up and down
the channel, bobbing on the waves like gulls ; rice
mills sit like amphibians at the edge of the water,
their
gabled roofs glistening with yellow dust.
Clouds of dark smoke trail away from their lofty
chimneys, dun cataracts of husk pour incessantly from
their waste-pipes to see the |
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stuff floating helplessly away to sea.
From the mills the banks slope down
to where the peingaws and the gnaws ride buoyantly at
anchor, and a living stream of men flows to and from
between.
Very swiftly the rice is borne away from their
holds, the rice boats are packed
and slowly moves downstream to unload the cargo into a
Yangon storage, along the waterway some bridges orchards
and vegetables, rice field and plenty of people can be
seen.
Over our
cruise
gleam the golden bell-top of the
Shwedagon, serene,
cidents unfold themselves,
each with its inner significance.
The villages, each like a little
ruddy-purple island in a vast
wind-ruffled Irrawaddy delta. Creek after creek
leads inland to other centers of life and vistas of
shining palms and pagodas and
winding water.
Gradually the face of the
landscape changes, the Irrawaddy river passing
slowly from a tidal creek to an inland water. No
longer does my vision range over vast deltaic
spaces. The mightiest trees, dark and splendid,
clothe both banks.
Miles of glistening plantings follow its curves, and hedges of tall
grass wave over the lips of the water,
sometimes the view opens to a village at the Ayeyarwady banks.
There
is, in spite of tropic exuberance, a regularity
and order in the scenery which give it a park-like
character is a great tropical experience, the only
real problems are the mosquitoes an other insects. |
Ayeyarwady Banks at this Myanmar
river
Cyclone Nagis
Irrawaddy delta at monsoon |
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Because of
the nature of constantly shifting sand in the rivers
only smaller ships can navigate the rivers. During
British colonial times the network with bigger river
ships was widespread and maintained but after the
British left all this went down and never come up
again and Myanmar as a country was virtually flattened.
The river maintenance
started again a few years ago with the introduction
of a river cruise between Mandalay and Bagan, this
segment can be served by bigger vessels such as "The
Road to Mandalay" which was a former passenger ship
on the River Rhine, there are some more old pax
ships running this route for the tourist business. |
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Irrawaddy Delta
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Sunset in the Delta |
Canoes in the Delta |
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Irrawaddy river tributary stream upcountry |
Fishermen at the river |
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Ayeyarwady at
Sagaing and pagodas |
The river at
Mandalay during
monsoon |
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The
muddy Ayeyarwady water
passes
Burmese villages with palms and pagodas appear at
intervals between the water and the lines of trees, as
the ship goes by little children dance and clap their hands and mimic the
chant of the leadsman as he calls the deeps of
the channel. The more curious of the village folk come
out of their houses to look at the passing show and make
remarks about the tourists on the steamer. Rice-boats
are slowly moving, high out of the water, lie at anchor, |
Delta at Pathein or Bassein
Buffaloes in the river near Mandalay
Irrawaddy
Delta at Syriam |
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since they still know what happen on
the Thai side when they built their dams in
Kanchanaburi province
Thailand, the problem was that the Thai electricity
generating company is a "state in a state" they do
what they want and they didn"t care a lot about the
local population and almost no compensations were
paid for the huge tracts of lands which were
flooded.
This Thai company was behind some projects
on the Myanmar side which were blocked by the
locals, because they know very well it is not
possible to trust this people.
Actually that would also be a
excellent place for Myanmar outdoor tourism and
adventure trips, trekking, rafting and great nature
exploration.
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