The Lake Sentarum National Park ( id, Taman Nasional Danau Sentarum) is a national park protecting one of the world's most biodiverse lake systems, located in the heart of

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

Island,

Kapuas Hulu Regency Kapuas Hulu Regency is a regency in West Kalimantan province of Indonesia. Located around Kapuas River, it has a total area of 29,842.03 square kilometres or around 20.26% of West Kalimantan province's area. The regency seat is located in town of ...

West Kalimantan West Kalimantan ( id, Kalimantan Barat) is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five Indonesian provinces comprising Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital city is Pontianak. The province has an area of 147,307&nbs ...

Province,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. It lies in the upper

Kapuas River The Kapuas River (or Kapoeas River) is a river in the Indonesian part of Borneo island, at the geographic center of Maritime Southeast Asia. At in length, it is the longest river in the island of Borneo and the longest river of IndonesiaMacK ...

tectonic basin some 700 kilometres upstream from the delta. The basin is a vast

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

, consisting of about 20 seasonal lakes,

freshwater swamp forest Freshwater swamp forests, or flooded forests, are forests which are inundated with freshwater, either permanently or seasonally. They normally occur along the lower reaches of rivers and around freshwater lakes. Freshwater swamp forests are found ...

and

peat swamp forest Peat swamp forests are tropical moist forests where waterlogged soil prevents dead leaves and wood from fully decomposing. Over time, this creates a thick layer of acidic peat. Large areas of these forests are being logged at high rates. Peat ...

. Local people call it as Lebak lebung (floodplain). The National Park is located in the western part of this basin, where three-quarters of the seasonal lakes occur. Approximately half of the park consists of lakes, while the other half consists of freshwater swamp forest. An area of 800 km² was first gazetted as Wildlife Reserve in 1982, which in 1994 was extended to 1,320 km² (890 km² is swamp forest area and 430 km² is dry-land) when it became a Ramsar site. In 1999 it was declared a National Park, however a National Park Authority was only established in 2006. Danau Sentarum National Park has a rich fish fauna with around 240 recorded species, including the

Asian arowana The Asian arowana (''Scleropages formosus'') comprises several phenotypic varieties of freshwater fish distributed geographically across Southeast Asia. While most consider the different varieties to belong to a single species, work by Pouyaud ...

and clown loach botia. During a biological expedition, scientists found species of such fish genera as ''

Chitala ''Chitala'' is a genus of fish of the family Notopteridae. This genus contains six species, in which some are important in aquaculture and the aquarium industry. They are commonly known as the Asian knifefishes or featherbacks. They are native ...

'', ''

Scleropages ''Scleropages'' is a genus of fish in the family Osteoglossidae found in Asia and Australia. All of these species are carnivorous and have great jumping ability. These species are highly valued as aquarium fish, particularly by those from Asian ...

'', ''

Channa ''Channa'' is a genus of predatory fish in the family Channidae, commonly known as snakeheads, native to freshwater habitats in Asia. This genus contains about 50 scientifically described species. The genus has a wide natural distribution extend ...

'' , ''

Leptobarbus ''Leptobarbus'' is a genus of cyprinid fish that are native to freshwater habitats in Southeast Asia. They are important food fish. It is the only genus in the subfamily Leptobarbinae. Leptobarbus hoevenii or "sultan fish" migrate the fresh water ...

'' , '' Parachela'', including many new species. There have been 237 bird species recorded including the Storm's stork and

great argus The great argus (''Argusianus argus'') is a species of pheasant from Southeast Asia. It is not to be confused with the two species of closely related crested argus, genus ''Rheinardia''. Taxonomy Carl Linnaeus gave the great argus its speci ...

. Of the 143 mammal species 23 are endemic to Borneo including the proboscis monkey. There is a relatively large population of the endangered

orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genu ...

s present in the park. The 26 reptile species include the false gharial and

estuarine crocodile The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats and brackish wetlands from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaic region to northern Australia and Micronesia. It has been liste ...

.Riak Bumi community-based natural resource management NGO: Flora & Fauna in Danau Sentarum
, retrieved 2009-09-26 The lakes support a large traditional fishing industry. The western part of the upper Kapuas floodplain is inhabited by almost 20,000 people, 88% of which are Malay fishermen. About 3,000 people live in about 20 village enclaves within the Park.

References

{{authority control National parks of Indonesia Ramsar sites in Indonesia Geography of West Kalimantan Wetlands of Indonesia Floodplains of Asia Tourist attractions in West Kalimantan Protected areas of Kalimantan Landforms of West Kalimantan

See also

References