Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria (also known as Victoria Nyanza), is the largest lake in Africa and the second largest freshwater lake on earth. It is located in East Africa between the countries Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

With an area of 69,484 km², it is about as big as Ireland. Lake Victoria is the source of the Nile. Despite the large surface area, the lake is not very deep, only a maximum of 81 meters. In the lake lies a large number of smaller islands, whereby the Ukerewe Island with an area of 560 km², is the largest.

Lake Victoria was discovered in 1858 by the British explorer John Hanning Speke. It received this name in honour of Queen Victoria, the then former Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. The lake is the second most important source of water for the Nile because the lake collects rainwater from the rivers that fall into there. These rivers flow from western Kenya, northern Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda.

Lake Victoria is geologically considered a very young lake, it is about 500,000 years old. There are indications that the lake dried out completely 14,700 years ago. When the water came back it was more populated by fish from the rivers. They adapted quickly and there was a small evolutionary explosion which created a very rich fauna. In Lake Victoria, one can find about 2500 different species, while across Europe for example, just over 200 species of freshwater fish. It is therefore, considered as a popular model system and research subject in the evolutionary theory.