Tolire Lake is located in northwest

Ternate Ternate (), also known as the City of Ternate (; ), is the List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city with the largest population in the province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands, Indonesia. It was the ''de facto'' provi ...

North Maluku North Maluku (; ) is a province of Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands, bordering the Pacific Ocean to the north, the Halmahera Sea to the east, the Molucca Sea to the west, and the Seram Sea to the south. It shares marit ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. The lake is bordered by sheer cliffs. Tolire Lake at the foot of Mount Gamalama, the highest volcano in North Maluku. The lake itself is composed of two sections which locals call Tolire Large and Small Tolire. The distance between them is about 200 meters.

Legend

Tolire Large and Small Tolire, according to local stories, was once a village where people lived in prosperity. This village was then cursed into a lake by a master of the universe, because one of the fathers in the village impregnated his own daughter. Great Tolire is believed to be the father and Small Tolire is believed to be a girl.

References

{{reflist Landforms of North Maluku Ternate Lakes of Indonesia