Travel Photo: Inle Fishermen

Every country has its specialties. In Burma, the fishermen of Inle Lake, called the Inn Thars have to be one of the more special ones. The reason is because of their unique fishing style that makes them famous all the world over. In fact, such is the popularity that these fishermen have been on the cover page of magazines and books for many years.


The Inle lake, unlike other freshwater lakes of the world has a lot of undergrowth that keeps floating in the water and it seems like the fishes hide in these plants. Hence, in order to catch these fishes, the Inn Thar people devised their own interesting technique. They oar with their feet to disturb the water and as the fishes rise up from the plants, they use a large net to trap them. Then they use sharp spears to kill the fish inside the net. I captured this photo around sunset in the middle of the lake.