Lake Azuéi

Étang Saumâtre
Étang Saumâtre Lac Azuéi
View from space
Location	Plaine du Cul-de-Sac
Coordinates	18°35′51″N 72°00′53″W / 18.59750°N 72.01472°W / 18.59750; -72.01472Coordinates: 18°35′51″N 72°00′53″W / 18.59750°N 72.01472°W / 18.59750; -72.01472
Lake type	Salt lake
Primary inflows	Small streams
Primary outflows	Land locked
Basin countries	Haiti Dominican Republic
Max. length	22 km (14 mi)
Max. width	12 km (7.5 mi)
Surface area	170 km2 (66 sq mi)
Surface elevation	15 m (49 ft)
Settlements	Port-au-Prince

Étang Saumâtre (in English, brackish pond) is the largest lake in Haiti and the second largest lake in Hispaniola, after Lake Enriquillo. It is also known as Lac Azuéi (Lake Azuéi); Its Taíno name was Yainagua.

The Étang Saumâtre, the brackish water lake is a twin of Lake Enriquillo, is 22 kilometres (14 mi) east of Port-au-Prince on the fertile Plaine du Cul-de-Sac. The lake supports over 100 species of waterfowl, flamingos and American crocodiles, one of the few lakes of its type in the world to harbour such fauna. The colour of the lake is an intense shade of blue and this picturesque lake is skirted by brush and cacti.

Étang Saumâtre is located on the arid part of the valley Cul-de-Sac, 29 kilometres (18 mi) east of Port-au-Prince in the Ouest department. Its eastern side is part of the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic; the Dominican city of Jimaní is at less than 1 km from the southeast end of the lake.

The lake itself is part of a chain of nearby saline lakes that lie in the Hispaniolan rift valley, (known as the Cul-de-Sac Depression in Haiti and the Hoya de Enriquillo in the Dominican Republic). Because the region was a former marine strait, several areas of the rift valley are below sea level. While the lake created in a depression is 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) long and 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) wide, however, during heavy rainfall years it merges with another lake to its east known as the Enriquillo or Xaragua in the Dominican Republic, which is 27 kilometres (17 mi) long, 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) wide and fairly deep; the two together would have a water spread stretching to 60 kilometres (37 mi) length, at an elevation of 300 metres (980 ft), larger than the Lake Geneva. It is 25 kilometres (16 mi) away from the sea and Haitians call it the 'Etang Sale'.