The Noel Besi River is a river flowing in the west part of

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 ...

island and forms part of the

border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

between the

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-west ...

exclave of Oecussi and Indonesian

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 ...

. It flows north into the

Sawu Sea The Savu Sea (or the Sawu Sea) ( id, Laut Sawu, pt, Mar de Savu, tet, Tasi Savu) is a small sea within Indonesia named for the island of Savu (Sawu) on its southern boundary. It is bounded by Savu and Rai Jua to the south, the islands of R ...

. Located 1900 km east of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

Hydrology

The river rises in the mountains of

as Oelvab. It is formed from several tributaries, the longest and southernmost rises to about 820 m in height. After the merging of the tributaries, the river winds north through the mountains. Below the ''Kali Aplal'' the Oelvab continues to flow towards the northeast, where after a few kilometers it merges with two other rivers.Google Earth As soon as it reaches the East Timorese Suco Malelat, it forms the border between Indonesia and East Timor. From Suco Malelat, the river now called Rio Kusi flows in northwest direction along the border of the Sucos Banafi and Lela-Ufe, before reaching the Suco Usi-Taco. The river bends sharply to

southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

and flows along the border of Suco Beneufe. Just south of the village Lamasi it bends again to the northwest. The river now widens, forming river islands and tributaries. Just south of the village Naktuka the river splits. While the left arm, forming several lakes, flows further northwest to

, the right arm bends to the northeast. Both arms are crossed by the northern coastal road, with two bridges over the right arm. This arm flows between Oehoso and Manan on the right side and Naktuka on the left, forming more river islands and several tributaries, and also flows into the Sawu Sea a little later

Geography

The river flows in the northwest part 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 24 °C. The warmest month is October, when the average temperature is around 28 °C, and the coldest is February, at 22 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1621 mm. The wettest month is January, with an average of 331 mm rainfall, and the driest is August, with 7 mm rainfall.

Border

The Noel Besi forms the "Noel Besi-Citrana border" area between Kupang Regency,

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, and Ambeno Regency, which belongs to

. This area is watered Noel Besi river which discharges into Ombai Strait. In the period of Portuguese colonization, the river flowed on the east side of the disputed area, but due to the natural climate change, the river shifted to the right side of the disputed area, which has now become a fertile agricultural heritage land with the current Noel Besi river.RI-Timor Leste Targetkan Perundingan Batas Darat Rampung Tahun Ini
– Seysha Desnikia, detikNews, 31 Januari 2018 The small village Naktuka is in the eastern part of administrative village Netemnanu, District of Amfoang, Kupang Regency, and located exactly on the border between Indonesia and East Timor. Now the area of 1,069 hectare has a "free zone" status, cannot be entered by population of both country, although historically, Naktuka belonged to Indonesia, according to the agreement between Portugal and the Netherlands in 1904. In 2017, 63 families from East Timor occupied Naktuka, with immigration office, church, electric network and meeting place of the Oecusse people.Sengketa Naktuka,Tokoh Adat Amfoang : “Kalau Pemerintah Tak Serius, Kita Pakai Cara Sendiri”
Tribun News, 15 Maret 2017 Originally the border between Amfoang and East Timor was the Noel Besi, but now the East Timor people has crossed the border up to 3 km until the stream of Nonomna. One meter from the stream is the Indonesian army outpost. This stream is claimed by East Timor as the border between Indonesia and East Timor. Indonesia wants the Noel Besi as its area according to toponym, whereas East Timor wants the Nono Nomna River based on compass azimuth.Noel Besi Pasti Dibahas
Harian Nasional, 25 Januari 2016.

Hydrology

Geography

Border

References

Further reading