- Nature / Palangkaraya
- -2.0276322, 113.7924494
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Tahai Lake is located in Tahai village, Central Kalimantan Province. This lake is about 30 km away from Palangkaraya in the Sampit direction. The word "œTahai" comes from the local Dayak language which simply just means lake.
There are 2 different versions of how Tahai Lake formed. The first says that Tahai Lake was formed from the accumulation of rain water in a sand mining area. The second version says that it was caused by a change of the stream of the Kahayan River making the water tralled there. But both versions are just theories with no official data provided.
There are many lakes in Kalimantan worth a visit, but many people prefer Tahai Lake for it has a few specialties. This lake has a different color for example, not blue or green, but red. This colour comes from moss and roots of trees. Another interesting thing is that you can see floating houses which local people call as "œrumah lanting"
There is a wooden bridge surrounding the area and connecting the lake to the jungle area, so you can walk around Tahai Lake easily. For those who love a little adventure, you can explore the jungle. The management has built a wooden trek for you to go through so you would need to get off the trek to do some real exploring
But even on the trek you will be welcomed by a beautiful scenery, cool air, and bird's twitter. If you get lucky, you can meet Uwak-Uwak, a monkey you can only find here. Uwak-Uwak is a protected animal as the population has been decreasing slowl. There are many lodges in the wooden bridge area for you to take some rest.
At the lake you can rent swan tire with oar or you can vist the karaoke place or restaurant. If you want to stay, you can rent some houses starting from IDR 75,000 to IDR 200,000 per night.
About one Km away from Tahai Lake is the Nyaru Menteng Orang Utan Conservation Centre which belongs to BOS (Borneo OrangUtan Survival). If you want to visit this centre you need to come on Sunday as it only opens for public on Sunday.
Transport options Tahai Lake
The lake is located 3 km away from the main road, but the access is pretty easy. You can use public transportation, the Palangkaraya-Sampit bus, get off in Tahai village, then you need to go on foot to the lake. An alternative is using a private vehicle, either 2 or 4 wheels.