Lake Peligre

The Péligre dam was built across the Artibonite in the mid-1950s and the reservoir behind it drowned a valley of farmland in the Central Plateau. The lake now runs between steep hills, green and deep, with dead trunks still standing in the shallows at the upper end and pirogues working across it. The dam supplies a substantial share of the country's electricity, and the road along the northern shore gives the whole basin at once.

Background

Lake Péligre, in Haiti's Centre department, is the second largest lake in the country. It came into being when the Peligre hydroelectric dam was built across the Artibonite River in 1956-1957. The project was paid for by the Export-Import Bank of the United States, and Tracy Kidder's book Mountains Beyond Mountains names the firm Brown & Root among its contractors. National Route 3 runs close enough to give a view over the water.

Source: Wikipedia, "Lake Péligre"

What you'll find

• The reservoir - deep green water between limestone hills in the Central Plateau.
• The drowned trees - trunks standing in the shallows at the upper end.
• The dam - the concrete gravity dam across the Artibonite gorge at the southern end.
• The pirogues - dugouts crossing the lake between shore settlements.

When to go

November to March is dry and the road is at its best. The reservoir is fullest at the end of the wet season around October, when the drowned trees are hardest to see. Mornings are calmest on the water.

Good to know

The dam itself is infrastructure and is not open to visitors; the view is from the road. There are no facilities at the lake.

Nearby

Mirebalais is southwest, and Hinche and Bassin Zim are north.

Key facts