Lake Habbema
A Lake At Over Three Thousand Metres In The Papuan Highlands, Reached By Road From Wamena, Where The Vegetation Is Alpine And Frost Forms Three Degrees South Of The Equator · Wamena, Highland Papua
Lake Habbema sits at OVER THREE THOUSAND METRES in the highlands above the Baliem Valley, and what makes it worth the rough road is that IT LOOKS NOTHING LIKE THE TROPICS. The vegetation is alpine and subalpine - tussock grass, tree ferns, cushion plants - the air is thin, and FROST FORMS HERE, three degrees south of the equator. THE BIRDING IS THE REASON SPECIALISTS COME: MacGregor's honeyeater, snow mountain robin and a list of highland endemics found in a narrow altitude band and almost nowhere else. The lake sits inside LORENTZ NATIONAL PARK, the largest protected area in South East Asia, on the road that runs west from WAMENA toward the high country. IT IS ABOUT THREE HOURS ON A ROUGH ROAD and the altitude catches out people who have come up from the Baliem at sixteen hundred metres. Leave Wamena in the dark: cloud builds over the highlands through the day and the lake is frequently gone by early afternoon.
Danau Habbema, Jayawijaya, Highland Papua, Wamena, Highland Papua, Indonesia
THERE IS NO GATE. THE LAKE IS REACHED BY ROAD FROM WAMENA - roughly three hours on a rough route that climbs steadily, and a FOUR-WHEEL-DRIVE AND DRIVER ARE ARRANGED IN WAMENA rather than hired. MOST PEOPLE GO AS A LONG DAY TRIP; camping is possible and is cold. A LOCAL GUIDE IS EFFECTIVELY NECESSARY, both for the birding and because this is Lorentz National Park and the Dani use the area. GO EARLY: cloud builds over the highlands through the day and the lake is frequently obscured by afternoon. IT IS GENUINELY COLD AT THIS ALTITUDE and visitors arriving from Wamena underestimate it badly. PAPUA'S PERMIT AND SECURITY SITUATION CHANGES - check current advice rather than relying on older accounts.