This lake was once home to the sawfish.
The sawfish (Pristis microdon), which over millions of years evolved from a salt water creature into a fresh water resident, lived in the depths of Lake Sentani, Papua, alongside ordinary fish as if nothing were unusual. It was last seen in 1974. After that, nothing.
Lake Sentani was not always a lake. According to archaeologist Hari Suroto of the Papua Archaeology Office and BRIN, this 9,360 hectare lake formed from a former sea bay. Geological processes over millions of years sealed part of the ocean into a lake. The sawfish was no brief adaptation; it was a living witness to that process.
On the same shore stands the Tutari megalithic site, a place of worship. Of prayer. Of hope, when the ancestors of the Sentani people went out to fish the lake. There are 147 engravings on 115 boulders, 1,300 years old.
One of the most frequently drawn figures is the sawfish, a sign that the Sentani ancestors lived alongside it for thousands of years. Today Lake Sentani is on the list of Indonesia's 15 critical lakes. Indonesia has places like this, and almost none of them yet have a story that is known.
