Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria

KENYA/ TANZANIA/ UGANDA

Lake Victoria or Victoria Nyanza (also known as Ukerewe and Nalubaale) is one of the Great Lakes of Africa. It is 68,800 square kilometres (26,560 mi²) in size, making it the continent's largest lake, the largest tropical lake in the world, and the second widest fresh water lake in the world in terms of surface area. Being relatively shallow for its size, with a maximum depth of 84 m (276 ft) and a mean depth of 40 m (131 ft), it is the source of the longest branch of the River Nile, the White Nile, and has a water catchment area of 184,000 square kilometres (71,040 mi²). The lake lies within an elevated plateau in the western part of Africa's Great Rift Valley and has a shoreline of 3,440 km (2138 miles). It has more than 3,000 islands, many of which are inhabited. The lake's shallowness, limited river inflow, and large surface area relative to its volume make it vulnerable to climate changes; cores taken from its bottom show that Lake Victoria has dried up completely three times since it formed 400,000 years ago.