Real Floating Towns & Ocean Cities

Fadiouth, Senegal

 The entire town of Fadiouth sprang from a clam shell. Or, more accurately, thousands upon thousands of them. That’s what the island itself is made of. Just off the village of Joal in Senegal, Fadiouth has granaries on stilts in the water, growing exports like millet. There’s also a separate clam shell island that functions as the village’s cemetery.

Flores, Guatemala

 Beautiful colonial red-roofed buildings cover the small island town of Flores on Lago Petén Itzá in Guatemala. The charming town is often used as a home base for travelers who wish to explore nearby Mayan ruins.

Ganvie, Benin

 The largest lake village in Africa can be found in Lake Nokoué, in the  nation of Benin. Established in the 16th or 17th centuries, Ganvie is a neighborhood of 3,000 buildings on stilts, with a population of 20-30,000. Residentsof Ganvie, which is often referred to as Africa’s Venice, subsist mostly on fishing with a little tourism, and use pirogues (canoes) to get around.

Halong Bay Floating Village, Vietnam

Like Ko Panyi, the Halong Bay village in Vietnam is set up on the only flat space to be seen – the surface of the water. Except this one isn’t on stilts. It floats. Living directly on the bay makes it easy for the roughly 1,000 locals to catch fish and other seafood. The first two villages were formed in the early 19th century and the only time since then that the water hasn’t been heavily occupied with floating homes was during the war against the French from 1946 to 1954.

Kay Lar Ywa, Myanmar

 

Myanmar’s supports 70,000 people in four cities including the small comity of Kay Lar Ywa. Many of the residents live in simple wooden houses on bamboo stilts, and support themselves by growing food in floating gardens. The Intha people have a practice known as ‘leg rowing’, hooking a leg around a long oar to propel a boat to navigate between their homes and gardens  . Some 100,000 people live and work on the water.

Wuzhen, China

 Located in the center of six ancient towns south of the Yangtze River in China, Wuzhen is a scenic town full of canals navigated by water taxis reminiscent of those in Venice. Known as Wuzhen Water Town, the historic town is said to have been populated for at least 7,000 years and bears ancient stone bridges and wooden carvings.

Zhouzhang, China

Here’s another example of a Venice-like town in China, infused with ancient Chinese history and culture. Zhouzhang is a water township surrounded and divided by lakes and rivers and has 14 stone bridges, including one built in the Ming Dynasty.

Lindau, Germany

 Connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway, the historic city of Lindau is a Bavarian town on an island in Lake Constance in Germany. Remains of an early Roman settlement from the 1st century have been found on the island, and in the 13th century it became home to a monastery. Today, its distinctive Bavarian architecture and beautiful views have made it a popular tourist spot.

Santa Cruz del Islote, Colombia

 From above, you can barely see a spot of land on this island, so completely covered is it with houses. Santa Cruz del Islote is located off the coast of Colombia and measures just .046 square miles, yet has an astonishing population of 1,200, making it the most densely populated island on earth.

Migingo Island, Kenya

 The oft-disputed island of Migingo on Lake Victoria measures just half an acre and supports about 131 people, mostly fishermen. The modest island may not seem all that valuable, but it’s been claimed by both Kenya and Uganda because each wants access to potentially lucrative fishing rights within about 1,670 feet of the island.