Lake Ngardok is a

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

on the

Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the ...

an island of

Babeldaob Babeldaob (also Babelthuap) is the largest island in the island nation of the Republic of Palau. It is in the western Caroline Islands, and the second largest island (after Guam) in the Micronesia region of Oceania. Palau's capital, Ngerulmud, i ...

, in the State of

Melekeok Melekeok is a state of the Republic of Palau located on the central east coast of Babeldaob Island. The seat of government of the country, Ngerulmud, is located in the state. The state consists of long beaches, hills, steep ridges, rivers, and ...

. It is the largest natural freshwater lake in all of the islands of

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...

. The lake and the marshes surrounding it are a refuge for the endangered

saltwater 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 list ...

(ius), and it is an important breeding location for them. The Ngerdorch River serves as a route that connects crocodiles with the sea. The lake is approximately 493 hectares with an ecosystem that provides a habitat for plants, wildlife, and birds, some of which are found only in the

Islands. These include the endemic Palau fruit dove (''biib''), Palau fantail (''melimdelebdeb''), Micronesian imperial-pigeon (''belochel''),

common moorhen The common moorhen (''Gallinula chloropus''), also known as the waterhen or swamp chicken, is a bird species in the rail (bird), rail family (Rallidae). It is distributed across many parts of the Old World. The common moorhen lives around well-v ...

s and

Pacific black duck The Pacific black duck (''Anas superciliosa''), commonly known as the PBD, is a dabbling duck found in much of Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and many islands in the southwestern Pacific, reaching to the Caroline Islands in the no ...

s (both called ''debar''),

Palau flycatcher The Palau flycatcher (''Myiagra erythrops'') is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is endemic to Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country a ...

(''charmelachull''), and a

fruit bat Megabats constitute the family Pteropodidae of the order Chiroptera (bats). They are also called fruit bats, Old World fruit bats, or—especially the genera '' Acerodon'' and ''Pteropus''—flying foxes. They are the only member of the ...

species (''olik''). The Chief Council of Melekeok State has established the Ngardok Nature Reserve to protect the watershed's slow degradation process, because the importance of the forests are critical to preserving the water quality in the lake. The lake however will soon be established as a reservoir for

Ngerulmud Ngerulmud () is the seat of government of the Republic of Palau, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean. It replaced Koror City, Palau's largest city, as the capital in 2006. The settlement is located in the state of Melekeok on Babeldaob, the ...

, Palau's new national capital in Melekeok.

References

Ngardok Melekeok Ramsar sites in Palau Ngerulmud {{Palau-geo-stub