Babeldaob in the context of "Melekeok"

Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands, while the eastern and central parts make up the Federated States of Micronesia.

It has a total area of 466 square kilometers (180 sq mi), making it the sixteenth smallest country in the world. The most populous island is Koror, home to the country's most populous city of the same name. The capital, Ngerulmud, is located on the largest island of Babeldaob, in Melekeok State. Palau shares maritime boundaries with international waters to the north, the Federated States of Micronesia to the east, Indonesia to the south, and the Philippines to the northwest.

Ngerulmud (Palauan pronunciation: [ŋəˈɾulmuð]) is the seat of government of the Republic of Palau, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean. It replaced Koror City as a capital in October 2006. The settlement is located in the state of Melekeok on Babeldaob, the country's largest island, located 20 kilometers (12 miles) northeast of Koror City and 2 km (1 mile) northwest of Melekeok City.With no permanent fixed population, it is the least-populous capital city of a sovereign nation in the world.

Melekeok (English: /ˈmɛləˌkeɪˌɔːk/) is a town in the State of Melekeok (one of Palau's sixteen states). It is located on the east coast of Palau's largest island, Babeldaob.

Lake Ngardok is a lake on the Palauan island of Babeldaob, in the State of Melekeok. It is the second largest natural freshwater lake in all of the islands of Micronesia, after Lake Susupe on the isle of Saipan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The lake and the marshes surrounding it are a refuge for the endangered saltwater crocodile, and it is an important breeding location for them. The Ngerdorch River serves as a route that connects crocodiles with the sea. The lake is approximately 6 hectares in size, with an ecosystem that provides a habitat for plants, wildlife, and birds, some of which are found only in the Palau Islands. These include the endemic Palau fruit dove (biib), Palau fantail (melimdelebdeb), Micronesian imperial-pigeon (belochel), common moorhens and Pacific black ducks (both called debar), Palau flycatcher (charmelachull), and a fruit bat species (olik).The Chief Council of Melekeok State has established the Ngardok Nature Reserve to protect the watershed's slow degradation process, because the importance of the forests are critical to preserving the water quality in the lake. The lake however will soon be established as a reservoir for Ngerulmud, Palau's new national capital in Melekeok.

The Southwest Islands of Palau are several small outlying islands spread across the Pacific Ocean about 600 km from the main island chain of Palau. They make up the Palauan states of Sonsorol and Hatohobei. The nearshore islands to the southwest of the main island of Palau (Babeldaob), which belong to the states of Koror, Peleliu and Angaur and the unincorporated Rock Islands, are not considered part of the Southwest Islands.