Trou Caïman (literally " Caiman's Hole" in French), sometimes called Eau Gallée by locals, is a saltwater

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 ...

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

known for its excellent

birdwatching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, b ...

opportunities.

Description

The lake is 9 km (5.6 mi) long, 3 km (1.9 mi) wide, and approximately 16 km² (6.2 mi²) in area. It is located northeast of

Croix-des-Bouquets Croix-des-Bouquets (, ; ht, Kwadèbouke or ) is a commune in the Ouest department of Haiti. It is located to the northeast of Haiti's capital city, Port-au-Prince. Originally located on the shore, it was relocated inland after the 1770 Po ...

in the

Ouest Ouest (French for west) may refer to: *Ouest (department), Haiti *Ouest Department (Ivory Coast), defunct administrative subdivision of Ivory Coast * Ouest Province, Cameroon * Ouest Province, Rwanda *Ouest-France, a French newspaper * West France ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in the

Plaine du Cul-de-Sac Plain of the Cul-de-Sac (french: Plaine du Cul-de-Sac, also known as the Cul-de-Sac Plain, or the Cul-de-Sac Depression) is a fertile lowland on the island of Hispaniola. It extends from southeastern Haiti into the southwestern Dominican Republi ...

rift valley A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear dep ...

nearby much larger saline lakes, chiefly Lake Azuéi in Haiti east of which is

Lake Enriquillo Lake Enriquillo ( es, Lago Enriquillo) is a hypersaline lake in the Dominican Republic located in the southwestern region of the country. Its waters are shared between the provinces of Bahoruco and Independencia, the latter of which borders Hait ...

in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

. The predominant headwater of the lake is at low level east within the neater suburbs of

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...

, the country's capital. The lake is semi-

endorheic An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...

as seasonally it overflows into a straightened channel which is shallow to the east into endorheic (with no outflow to the sea) Lake Azuéi.

References

Lakes of Haiti {{Haiti-geo-stub