Lake Victoria is 68,800 km square, making it the continent’s largest lake in the largest tropical lake the world, and the second largest freshwater lake in the world in terms of area. Be relative to its size, with a maximum depth of 84 m and an average depth of 40 m, Lake Victoria, shared by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, was named after the Queen of England. This region of Africa is best known for its big cats and herds of wildebeests, zebras and giraffes roaming the savanna plains, the most diverse and endangered ecosystems are under water. . Lake Victory the seventh largest freshwater by volume, containing 2750 km cubic. It is the source of the longest branch of the Nile, White Nile, and has a catchment area of 184,000 km square water. It’s a biological hotspot with great biodiversity.

The lake is located in one of the high plateaus in the western part of Africa’s Rift Valley and is subject to territorial administration by Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. The lake has a coastline of 3440 km, and has over 3000 islands, many of which are occupied. These include the Ssese Islands in Uganda. Lake Victoria, shared by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, was named after the Queen of England. This region of Africa is best known for its big cats and herds of wildebeests, zebras and giraffes roaming the savanna plains, the most diverse and endangered ecosystems are under water, therefore, becoming very popular destination for tourism. In the early 20th century, some decades after the Speke “discovered”, the colonizers began to exploit Lake Victoria basin. They authorized the middle of the natural vegetation, rejecting the forests and draining of wetlands, to plant cash crops like tea, coffee and sugar. plantations attracted migrant workers who settled in the region. As the population grew and advanced fishing methods, overfishing has become a major problem and catch began to decline. The ecosystem of Lake Victoria and its surroundings were severely affected by human influence.

In 1954, the perrch Nile (Lates niloticus) was introduced for the first time in the lake ecosystem to improve the efficiency of the fishing lake. Introduction strengthened efforts in the early 1960s. The species is present in small amounts until the early to mid 1980s, when he suffered a massive population expansion and came to dominate the fish community and ecology of the world’s largest tropical lake. Was also introduced Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), now an important food fish for local consumption. Nile perch (Lates niloticus) was an ecological and socio-economic ally disturbing. With pollution born of deforestation and overpopulation (of people and pets), the Nile perch has also made ​​a change in the ecosystem of the lake and the disappearance of hundreds of endemic cichlid species Haplochlomine. Many of them are now accepted to be entirely disappeared. A number of other species have become extinct in the wild, where the population is kept in zoos and aquariums, for example as part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan for these species. Some species have disappeared from Lake Victoria are known to survive in the nearby town of small so-called satellite lakes, like Lake kyago, Lake Edward and Lake Albert. In the 1950s, popular species such as Ngege (Oreochromis esculentus), had reduced so severely that they had become lost trade. The only outlet for Lake Victoria in Jinja, Uganda where it forms the Victoria Nile. The water originally drained over a natural rock dam. In 1952 British colonial engineers irritant on the dam and reservoir. A standard to emulate the former exit rate called the “tuning curve” was established, fixing the maximum rate of 300 to 1700 cubic meters per second depending on the lake. About 1900 in transport Lake Victoria ferries have been an important means of transport between Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. The main ports on the lake are Kisumu, Mwanza, Bukoba, Entebbe, Port Bell and Jinja.

Lake victory as like the other bodies of water, it causes many disasters especially in the fishing and navigation, especially steam MV Bukoba sank in the lake on October 3, 1995, killing nearly 1,000 people. For more information on visiting Tanzania contact Wild Things For more information on visiting Tanzania’s mountains Mountain Contact United