Danau Sentarum

Danau Sentarum is not one lake but a basin of dozens of shallow lakes and flooded forest on the upper Kapuas in West Kalimantan, and its defining behaviour is seasonal: for part of the year the Kapuas backs up into the basin and the whole thing becomes a single body of water metres deep with the forest standing in it; for the rest it drains out and becomes grassland, mud and separate pools. That cycle drives an exceptional fishery - the basin supplies a large share of West Kalimantan's freshwater fish - and supports the Malay and Iban communities living on floating houses and stilt villages inside it. It is a Ramsar site and a national park, with orangutans, proboscis monkeys and a long bird list. Honey collection from wild bee trees is a managed local industry.

What you actually see

• A lake that comes and goes - flooded forest for part of the year, grassland for the rest.
• Floating villages - Malay and Iban communities living on the water inside the park.
• A major freshwater fishery - the basin supplying much of the province's fish.
• Wild honey collection - the managed harvest from bee trees in the flooded forest.

When to go

Flooded roughly November to May; dry the rest. Three days.

Honest expectations

Which landscape you get depends entirely on the season and the year, and the timing shifts. Access is multi-day by river. Facilities are village homestays. Malaria is present.

Nearby

Betung Kerihun National Park is upstream; Putussibau is the upper Kapuas town.