Kakaban island is part of the Derawan Islands, East Kalimantan, Indonesia.The island has an area of 774.2 hectares (1,913 acres) and is quite steep with limestone cliffs covered with dense jungle
right down to the water's edge and few beaches. The wall drops to 180
metres (590 ft) and currents can be strong with upwelling, downcurrent
and reversing directions.
The most distinctive feature is the huge brackish water lake in the
middle of the island, in the local dialect Kakaban means "hug" as the
island hugs the lake from the surrounding seawater.
In the middle of this island is a mangrove-fringed
lake, slightly above sea level, where thousands of non-stinging
jellyfish live making it interesting for diving. The jellyfish consist
of four different species which have lost their natural defense system
because of the lack of major predators in the lake. Similar lakes exist
in the Philippines ( Siargao ) Palau, with Jellyfish Lake being the best known.
The lake has warm brackish water and the bottom is covered with marine green algae. There are other animals living here, some sea cucumbers, gobies, sea anemones, tunicates, crustaceans, nudibranchs, orange purple clams and yellow clams on the branches, and snakes.
The lake is at most 17 metres (56 ft) deep with poor visibility and
is 10 minutes walk from the beach. Kakaban was probably uplifted during
the Holocene
and sea water was trapped turning the area and formed a landlocked
marine lake. The water is now a mixture of salt water and sweet water
from the rain.
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