Lake Tegano

Where is Lake Tegano?

Countries on its shores: the Solomon Islands.

Largest lake of: the Solomon Islands.

Middle of the lake: 11.68° S, 160.33° E

The story behind it

Rennell Island is a raised coral atoll. Long ago it was a ring of coral reef around a lagoon, but then the whole island was slowly lifted up out of the sea. The old lagoon became Lake Tegano. Its surface lies at sea level, and its water is brackish, a mix of fresh and salt water. The lake is about 29 kilometres long and up to 44 metres deep. Many small, rugged islands of limestone rise from the water. Here lives a sea snake that is found nowhere else in the world – one of only two kinds of sea snake that live in fresh or brackish water. Rare birds such as the Rennell starling live in the forests, and 11 kinds of bats fly here. People of Polynesian origin live in villages around the lake. They fish for tilapia, a fish that was brought to the lake and is now an important food.

Find it on the globe

Lake Tegano is there as a small blue dot with its name, right on the water. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.

It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.