Lake Victoria is
located in east central Africa and borders three countries; Kenya,
Uganda and Tanzania
with a total 2137.5 miles of shoreline. Named after the former British Queen, Lake Victoria is not only
Africa's largest lake at 26,830 square miles, but the world's largest tropical lake. It
is therefore hard to believe that Lake Victoria has actually
dried up on three occasions in its history mainly because of its
shallow nature, the last time being some 12,500 years ago.
Lake Victoria
features on the famous Al Adrisis map of the 1160s, which also
correctly identifies the lake as being the source of the Nile
~ the only river to leave the lake, however it became more
widely accessible to Europeans after the British explorer, John
Speke reached the lake in 1858. Its primary incoming river
source is the River Kagera.
The lake isn't just home to an abundance of wildlife, many
indigenous to the lake with over 100 animal species and 606 bird
species, but it is also home to over 3000 islands of varying
sizes many of which are popular tourist destinations. It is estimated that around one million people are dependant
on Lake Victoria for their livelihoods and for food, however,
the lake is suffering from pollution and depleted fish stocks,
not least because when the large Nile Perch was introduced to
the waters in the 1950s as a known good source of food, it
started eating many of the fish that already lived there.
This is all causing oxygen levels in the lake to drop
significantly and with half of the native species of the lake
now dead, Lake Victoria is at risk of becoming a dead pool of
water unless the recently formed Lake Victoria Environmental
Management Program agreed by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania can come
good on its pledge to improve water quality and land management
together with controlling the perch and restoring indigenous
food fish. This video features a boat trip on Lake Victoria and gives a
good look and feel of the lake which you explore in more detail
using our interactive map below.
All about Lake Victoria in the Rift Valley of East Africa, Africa's largest lake and the world's largest tropical lake, including map and video images.
