The Benanain River is a river of western

Timor Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western part. The Indonesian part, also ...

, Indonesia. This river is the longest and the largest di the

West Timor West Timor ( id, Timor Barat) is an area covering the western part of the island of Timor, except for the district of Oecussi-Ambeno (an East Timorese exclave). Administratively, West Timor is part of East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. The ...

area, with a length of 132 km. The river is located in three regencies: Malaka, Timor Tengah Utara and Timor Tengah Selatan,

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

East Nusa Tenggara East Nusa Tenggara ( id, Nusa Tenggara Timur – NTT; pt, Sonda Oriental) is the southernmost province of Indonesia. It comprises the eastern portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, facing the Indian Ocean in the south and the Flores Sea in the nor ...

, Indonesia. The upstream rises from

Mount Mutis Mount Mutis ( id: Gunung Mutis), also known as Nuaf Nefomasi, is a mountain and highest point of East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, at above sea level. It is located in the Gunung Mutis Nature Reserve in the South Central Timor Regency, from Kupang, ...

, flowing in the southeast direction until discharging to

Timor Sea The Timor Sea ( id, Laut Timor, pt, Mar de Timor, tet, Tasi Mane or ) is a relatively shallow sea bounded to the north by the island of Timor, to the east by the Arafura Sea, and to the south by Australia. The sea contains a number of reefs ...

near Besikama.

Hydrology

The watershed (Indonesian: ''Daerah Aliran Sungai''/DAS) of Benanain has an area of 3,158 km² comprising Malaka, Timor Tengah Utara, Timor Tengah Selatan and also a small part of

Belu Regency Belu Regency is a regency in East Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia. Established on 20 December 1958, Belu Regency has its seat (capital) in the large town of Atambua. In December 2012 a separate Regency - Malaka Regency - was created from t ...

. It is the largest watershed in the

province. The Benanain River has a characteristic of very extreme discharge fluctuation, giving the indication that the condition of this watershed is in a serious damage. Consequently, every year this river causes big flooding.

Tributaries

Some of the largest tributaries of the river are: # Baen River # Biau River # Asban River # Okan River # Muti River # Bunu River # Fatu River # Laku River # Besi River

Geography

The river flows in the middle south of

with predominantly

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...

(designated as ''Aw'' in the Köppen-Geiger climate classification). The annual average temperature in the area is 26 °C. The warmest month is November, when the average temperature is around 29 °C, and the coldest is June, at 23 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1760 mm. The wettest month is January, with an average of 305 mm rainfall, and the driest is September, with 5 mm rainfall.

Uses

The inhabitants along the Benanain River use the water for agriculture and fisheries by traditional fishing or using nets. The Benanain Dam in Kakaniuk village, district of Malaka Tengah,

Malaka Regency Malaka Regency is a regency in the province of East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. The regency was established on 14 December 2012, comprising twelve districts which had formerly been the southern part of Belu Regency Belu Regency is a regency in Eas ...

, can distribute water to 15,000 hectare of farmlands. Other than agriculture, the dam is also used for flood prevention.

Ecology

This river is a habitat of local

crocodiles Crocodiles (family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant memb ...

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References