List of Lakes in Africa
Africa is blessed with a number of lakes which are a home for different aquatic life.
The following are the major lakes in Africa
Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria is Africa’s largest freshwater lake and the second largest freshwater lake in the world after Lake Superior in North America. It covers an area of 69,485 km2 (26,828 sq miles) and is located in Eastern Africa.
Lake Tanganyika
Lake Tanganyika is the second largest in Africa and seventh largest in the world, third largest freshwater lake in the world by volume exceeded only by the Caspian and Baikal and the second deepest in the world with 1,470 meters deep with an area of 32,893 km2 (12,700 sq miles). The lake is shared by four countries namely Tanzania, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and Zambia.
Lake Nyasa
Lake Nyasa is the third largest, second deepest lake in Africa and the tenth largest lake in the world. The lake covers 30,044 km2 (11,600 sq miles). The lake is shared by Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.
Lake Chad
Lake Chad is afresh lake water, the twelfth largest lake in the world and the fourth in Africa covering an area of 25,760 km2 (9,946 sq miles). Lake Chad is located mainly in the far west of Chad and shared with Nigeria.
Lake Turkana (Lake Rudolf)
Lake Turkana is a lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley covering 6,405 km2 (2,473 sq miles) and shared by Kenya and Ethiopia. It is the world’s largest permanent desert lake and the world’s largest alkaline lake. By volume it is the world’s fourth-largest salt lake after the Caspian Sea, Issyk-Kul and Lake Van.
Lake Albert
Lake Albert is Africa’s sixth-largest lake, thirtieth in the world, twenty-seventh largest lakes by volume in the world covering 5,299 km2 (2,046 sq miles). Lake Albert is located in the Rift Valley and is more than 90 miles long and 20 miles wide. It is shared by Uganda and the DR Congo and is part of the upper Nile system.
Lake Mweru
Lake Mweru is a freshwater lake on the longest arm of Africa’s second-longest river, the Congo. Located on the border between Zambia and Democratic Republic of the Congo covering an area of 5,120 km (1,977 sq miles). Mweru is mainly fed by the Luapula River which comes in through swamps from the south and the Kalungwishi River from the east.
Lake Kyoga
Lake Kyoga is a large shallow lake complex in Uganda covering 4,403 km2 (1,700 sq miles) and it is the thirty fifth largest lakes in the world. Victoria Nile flows through the lake on its way from Lake Victoria to Lake Albert. The main inflow from Lake Victoria is regulated by the Nalubaale Power Station in Jinja.
Lake Kivu
Lake Kivu is one of the African Great Lakes covering a total area of 2,700 km2 (1,042 sq miles). It lies on the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda and is in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift Valley.
Lake Edward
Lake Edward is one of the African Great Lakes. It is located in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift, on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda with its northern shore a few kilometres south of the Equator. The lake covers 2,325 km2 (898 sq miles)
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