The Baliem River (or Vriendschaps River) is a river in the

Highland Papua Highland Papua ( id, Papua Pegunungan) is a province of Indonesia, which roughly follows the borders of Papuan customary region of Lano-Pago, shortened to La Pago. It covers an area of and had a population of 1,408,641 according to the official es ...

and

South Papua South Papua, officially the South Papua Province ( id, Provinsi Papua Selatan), is an Indonesian province located in the southern portion of Papua, following the borders of Papuan customary region of Anim Ha. Formally established on 11 November 2 ...

provinces of

Western New Guinea Western New Guinea, also known as Papua, Indonesian New Guinea, or Indonesian Papua, is the western half of the Melanesian island of New Guinea which is administered by Indonesia. Since the island is alternatively named as Papua, the region ...

, Indonesia. It is the largest tributary of the

Pulau River The Pulau River ( id, Sungai Pulau, nl, Eilandenrivier) is a major river in South Papua province of Indonesia, with a total length of . Name It was previously known as the Eilanden River based on Dutch colonial expedition maps, and was still s ...

, formerly called the Eilanden River. With a total length of .

Hydrology

The river begins as the Baliem Timur (East Baliem) in the northern

Maoke Mountains The Maoke Mountains is a mountain range in the province of Central Papua and Highland Papua. It extends over 692 km and is composed of the Sudirman and Jayawijaya ranges. It is part of the larger New Guinea Highlands or Central Cordillera. ...

(Snow Mountains) at Lake Habbema in Jayawijaya Regency, north of Mount Trikora. The Baliem Timur flows west to meet the Baliem Barat (West Baliem) before turning north. After traveling underground for several kilometers through a sinkhole in an area of Karst limestone geology, it emerges and travels northeast to near Tiom in Lanny Jaya Regency. This section of the river was formerly known as the Noordelijke Baliem (North Baliem) in Dutch. After flowing east through Lanny Jaya, the Baliem turns southeast as it enters the wide, flat Great

Baliem Valley The Baliem Valley ( id, Lembah Baliem; also spelled Balim and sometimes known as the Grand Valley) is a valley of the Central Highlands in Western New Guinea. Specifically in Highland Papua, Indonesia, which is inhabited mainly by the Dani peopl ...

. In the center of the valley it meanders southeast to meet the Uwe river in the town of

Wamena Wamena is a town and the capital of the Indonesian province of Highland Papua. It also serves as the seat of Jayawijaya Regency. It is the largest town in Indonesian Papua's highlands, in the Baliem Valley and had a population of 64,967 at the ...

, the capital of Highland Papua province. South of Wamena, the river plunges southeast through a steep gorge with many rapids and waterfalls, and is joined by the Mugi and Kwik rivers. 70 kilometers southeast of Wamena the Heluk river enters the Baliem near Holuwon village. From here, the river was called Vriendschaps River at the time of Dutch East Indies and

Dutch New Guinea Dutch New Guinea or Netherlands New Guinea ( nl, Nederlands-Nieuw-Guinea, id, Nugini Belanda) was the western half of the island of New Guinea that was a part of the Dutch East Indies until 1949, later an overseas territory of the Kingd ...

, before the course of the river was fully explored. Below Holuwon, the river leaves the southern foothills of the Maoke or Jayawijaya Mountains and becomes a braided river heading to the southwest through the lowland rainforest of

. After 100 kilometers, the Baliem, slightly upstream from the village of Kaima, flows into the

(formerly the Eilanden River), which flows into the Arafura Sea about 100 kilometers south-west on the Casuarina Coast.The Dugum Dani: A Papuan Culture in the Highlands of West New Guinea, By Karl G. Heider

Ecology

The Baliem River has a length about 60–80 km with the width of 15–20 m, flowing through the town of Wamena. The water temperature is around 14 to 18 °C. The acidity of the Baliem River is around 6.8–7.5, and the oxygen level is 4.1–4.3 mg/L. The flow rate is 0.09–0.92 m/det.; clarity 17–160 cm and depth 0.60–3.7 meter. The acidity level of the Baliem is considered good for the growth of water organism, such as fish. In Baliem also lives a kind of animal with high cultural value for the local people; valued as high as yam () and pig (''wam''). It belongs to ''

Cherax ''Cherax'', commonly known as yabby/yabbies in Australia, is the most widespread genus of fully aquatic crayfish in the Southern Hemisphere. Various species of cherax may be found in both still and flowing bodies of freshwater across most of ...

'' spp that lives in the mud. At night, it rises from the river and stays on the banks, whereas at sunrise, it goes back into deep river area. Along the banks there are swamps, with high tendency of flooding and used by the community to let loose their pig herds. The river basin has high potential for tourism and agriculture.8 Sungai yang terdapat di Papua
Ilmu Geografi.com

Geography

The river flows in the southern area of Papua with predominantly

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southea ...

(designated as ''Af'' in the Köppen-Geiger climate classification). The annual average temperature in the area is 21 °C. The warmest month is March, when the average temperature is around 22 °C, and the coldest is July, at 18 °C. The average annual rainfall is 6222 mm. The wettest month is May, with an average of 708 mm rainfall, and the driest is January, with 348 mm rainfall.

References

{{coord, 5, 28, S, 138, 53, E, display=title, region:ID_type:river_source:GNS-enwiki Rivers of Highland Papua Rivers of Indonesia

Hydrology

Ecology

Geography

See also

References