Danau Sentarum
A Lake System On The Upper Kapuas That Floods Into An Inland Sea And Then Drains Almost To Grassland, Feeding One Of The Most Productive Freshwater Fisheries In The World · Putussibau, West Kalimantan
Danau Sentarum is not a lake so much as A PLACE THAT IS SOMETIMES A LAKE. In the wet season the upper Kapuas backs up into a basin of interconnected lakes and flooded forest SEVERAL METRES DEEP, with the tops of trees standing out of open water; IN THE DRY SEASON IT DRAINS ALMOST ENTIRELY, leaving grassland, mud and shrinking pools where boats went months earlier. That cycle makes it ONE OF THE MOST PRODUCTIVE FRESHWATER FISHERIES IN THE WORLD, and the MALAY AND IBAN COMMUNITIES living in and around it have organised their year around it for generations. THE OTHER LOCAL ECONOMY IS WILD HONEY, collected from TIKUNG - artificial branches set in the trees for bees to build on - and the certification and cooperative work built around it here is among the better-known community forestry and certification stories in Indonesia, and the honey is sold at source for very little by the cooperatives that collect it.
Danau Sentarum, Kapuas Hulu, West Kalimantan, Putussibau, West Kalimantan, Indonesia
ACCESS IS FROM PUTUSSIBAU, a long way up the Kapuas from Pontianak - roughly a full day by road or a flight into the small airport there, and then BOATS INTO THE LAKE SYSTEM, arranged locally. THERE IS NO GATE: A PARK PERMIT IS ARRANGED AT PUTUSSIBAU or through an operator, along with a guide. WATER LEVELS GOVERN EVERYTHING - in the dry season much of the basin is not navigable at all and the experience is completely different from the wet season, so the timing decision is unusually consequential here. ACCOMMODATION IS HOMESTAYS IN LAKESIDE AND FLOATING VILLAGES, arranged in advance; there is almost no tourism infrastructure. HONEY IS HARVESTED SEASONALLY. Bring cash; banking stops at Putussibau.