Lake Enriquillo

Lake Enriquillo occupies a basin of internal drainage in the southwestern Dominican Republic, a landscape of extreme contrast where a vast salt lake sits surrounded by semi-arid hills and mountains that separate it from the Caribbean Sea. The lake has no surface outlet, and the water that flows into it from occasional rains and seasonal streams evaporates in the tropical sun, concentrating salts to levels far above ocean salinity. The hypersaline conditions create an environment unlike almost anywhere else in the Caribbean, and the lake's biological productivity under these extreme conditions is itself a subject of scientific interest. The surface of the water sits approximately 44 metres below sea level, making it the lowest point of any island nation in the Caribbean and one of the few below-sea-level lakes in the world that is not in the Dead Sea or Great Salt Lake region.

The American crocodile population in Lake Enriquillo has grown substantially since the 1990s, and the animals are visible from the roadside at the eastern shore. This is unusual: large crocodilians are typically difficult to observe in the wild because they are shy, nocturnal and tend to submerge at the slightest disturbance. The lake's hypersaline conditions mean that there are few competitors or threats to the crocodile population, and the animals have become accustomed to the presence of observers at the water's edge. The sight of a three-metre crocodile basking in the shallows with the lake's pale mountains in the background is one of the most distinctive wildlife experiences available without a boat or a guided expedition anywhere in the Greater Antilles.

Caribbean flamingos feed and rest at the southern end of the lake where the water is shallow enough for them to stand and filter-feed on the brine shrimp and algae that thrive in the hypersaline conditions. The pink plumage of the flamingos against the turquoise water and the pale salt crust that forms on exposed shorelines is one of the most striking colour contrasts in Dominican nature photography, and the colonies at the southern end of the lake represent one of the most significant waterbird nesting sites in the Greater Antilles. The birds are present year-round but are most concentrated during the dry season months from November through March, when the shallows are most accessible and the water levels most stable.

Isla Cabritos, a volcanic island in the centre of the lake, was formerly larger and more connected to the mainland shore before rising water levels reduced its area significantly. The island now serves as a refuge for land iguana populations that have been displaced by the expanding lake, and the iguana colony on the island is visible with binoculars or a telephoto lens from the eastern shore road. The combination of crocodiles, flamingos and land iguanas in a single accessible lakeside landscape is unusual in Caribbean ecology, and Lake Enriquillo is one of the few places in the region where multiple large vertebrate species can be observed from a single vantage point without specialist equipment or guided boat trips.

Water levels in Lake Enriquillo have been rising since the 1990s, a trend that has submerged previously accessible shoreline and created new islands from former hillsides. The current extent of the lake is significantly larger than shown on maps published before 2000, and the changing shoreline geography means that some older descriptions of the lake's dimensions are no longer accurate. The causes of the rising water are not fully settled in the scientific literature, but the change itself is well documented and is visibly transforming the landscape around the lake. The road along the eastern shore provides the most accessible viewpoints, and the town of La Descubierta at the southern end offers closer access to the flamingo areas. There is no formal park entrance or admission fee, and viewing is from the public road.

It is the largest lake in the Caribbean and the lowest point for any island nation in the region.

The crocodile population is uniquely accessible — animals are visible from shore in a way that is rare for large crocodilians.

The flamingo colonies at the southern end represent one of the most significant waterbird nesting sites in the Greater Antilles.