Page 280 - The Guide To Sarawak

278 RIVERS, LAKES & THE SEA
Batang Ai Hydro Lake, with the Batang Ai Longhouse Resort in the foreground, has developed into one of the state’s major ecotourism attractions.
Lakes
Sarawak is not well blessed with natural lakes, as its limestone hills are easily eroded, enabling water
to find the quickest
way to the sea. In fact
the largest natural lake, Loagan Bunut, is only 65 hectares in size. However, the last few decades have seen the formation of two massive hydro lakes. The first, Batang Ai Hydro Lake, built in the 1970’s
in Southwest Sarawak,
has an area of over 24
sq km, and is important
to local communities for transport and aquaculture. Batang Ai’s area is easily surpassed by Bakun Hydro Lake, which covers over 695 sq km, an area slightly larger than Singapore.
A further 389 sq km will be added when Murrum Hydro Lake is impounded
in the near future. Both new lakes are expected to become major aquaculture centres.
Lakeside Activities & Attractions
Sarawak’s most visited lakes are Batang Ai Hydro Lake, 4 hours from Kuching, and Loagan Bunut National Park (see page 242), 2 hours from
Miri. Batang Ai offers longhouse tours to Iban communities upriver,
and is a notable angling destination, famed for
its specimen toman fish. Visitors can stay in local longhouses or enjoy the comforts of Batang Ai Longhouse Resort, (see page 170) the only Hilton in the world built primarily out of wood. Loagan
Loagan Bunut, in the National Park of the same name, is Sarawak’s largest natural lake. It dries up twice-yearly like a miniature Tonle Sap, providing a rare feast for waterbirds.