Description
The river originates in the Victor Emanuel Range in the central highlands of Papua New Guinea. From its mountain headwaters near Telefomin, it travels north-west and leaves the mountains abruptly near Yapsei. From here it flows into Indonesian Papua, before turning back north-east for the majority of its journey following the Great Depression. Along its course it receives numerous tributaries from the Bewani and Torricelli Mountains to the north and the Central Range to the south.
For most of the Sepik's length the river winds in serpentine fashion, like the Amazon River, to the Bismarck Sea off northern Papua New Guinea. Unlike many other large rivers, the Sepik has no delta whatsoever, but flows straight into the sea, about 100 kilometres (60 mi) east of the town of Wewak. It is also navigable for most of its length.
The river's total length is 1,126 kilometres (700 mi) and has a drainage basin of over 80,000 km² (30,000 mi²). There is a 5-10 kilometres wide belt of active meanders formed by the river along most of its course that has created a floodplain up to 70 kilometres wide with extensive backwater swamps. There are around 1,500 Oxbow and other lakes in the floodplain, the largest of which are the Chambri Lakes.
The Sepik basin is largely an undisturbed environment, as there are no major urban settlements or mining and forestry activities in the river catchment.
Read more about this topic: Sepik
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