Lake Azuei

Étang Saumâtre, usually called Lake Azuei, fills a basin on the Cul-de-Sac plain east of Port-au-Prince and is the largest lake in the country at around a hundred and thirty square kilometres. The water is brackish and has no outlet, which is why it is salty and why its level has risen substantially since the 2000s, drowning road, farmland and buildings along the northern shore. American crocodiles live in it, flamingos work the shallows, and the Chaîne des Matheux rises behind.

What you actually see

• The lake - a brackish sheet with no outlet, the largest in Haiti.
• The drowned shoreline - trees, poles and structures standing in water where the level has risen.
• The crocodiles - American crocodiles resident in the lake, most often seen from a boat.
• The birds - flamingos, ducks and waders on the shallow margins.

When to go

November to March is the dry season and the most comfortable. Birds concentrate in the cooler months. The plain is very hot from May onwards and the light is harsh in the middle of the day.

Honest expectations

The water is not for swimming: it is brackish, crocodiles are present, and the shoreline is soft. There is no visitor infrastructure, and boats are informal arrangements with fishermen. The rising level is a live problem for the communities along the road, and parts of the old shoreline are simply gone.

Nearby

Trou Caiman is a few kilometres northwest, and Croix-des-Bouquets is on the road back to the capital.