Still water
Reflecting palms.
Buada Lagoon is a small, quiet lake on Nauru, in a green hollow ringed by coconut palms and thick vegetation, away from the sea. Still water reflects the sky and palms, with houses and gardens around it. It is the only true lake in Nauru, covering 3.8 ha, about 280 m long and 140 m wide, and on average 1 to 2 m deep. It has no link to the sea and no outflow, filling only with rain, and its fresh water is slightly brackish. Nauru has no rivers, so it is one of the island's rare sources of fresh water. Nauruans raised milkfish in it for centuries. The lake sits in a limestone basin where phosphate was never mined, unlike most of the plateau around it, so it has stayed green. You walk around it and take in the water and palms in calm. The lake is about 1.5 km in a straight line north of Yaren and about 1,300 m from the shore. Swimming is not advised as the water is polluted. The land around it belongs to local families, so respect the houses and gardens.
Reflecting palms.
Never mined.
Away from the sea.
Buada district, south-central Nauru
No, the water is polluted.
By car, inland from the ring road up to Buada.