Lake Sentani

BW

The Sentani Lake ( Danau Sentani indon. ) is located west of Jayapura in the northeast of West New Guinea. The largest lake in West Papua is very irregularly shaped. In the surroundings of the lake about 30,000 people of the minority group of Sentani live in 30 villages that feed on fish of the lake, animals, fruits and vegetables of the environment.

The lake was formed possibly by a tectonic elevation, evidence of this is terrible. To the north is mountainous terrain, the south is quite flat. The catchment area is about 600 square kilometers, with average annual rainfall of about 2 m. The water level fluctuates during the course of the seasons by about 40 centimeters. The lake is up to ten feet of water uniformly warm ( about 30 ° C) and exhibits pH values ​​from 6.2 to 6.8 at the surface.

In 1993 the lake was last examined scientifically. It 33 fish species were found, of which 18 are endemic, such as the Salmon Red Rainbowfish. Sawfish ( Pristis microdon ) occurred until the 1970s in the lake, they are a common motif in the traditional art of Sentani.