Lake Victoria—The greatest of Africa’s Great Lakes, Victoria is the world’s largest tropical lake, the second largest fresh water lake by surface area, and the world’s 9th largest continental lake. Wildlife, the Nalubaale Dam, and lake recreation make this a popular spot. It was once mistaken as the source of the Nile.
The greatest of Africa’s Great Lakes, Victoria is the world’s largest tropical lake, the second largest freshwater lake by surface area, and the world’s 9th largest continental lake. Wildlife, the Nalubaale Dam, and lake recreation make this a popular spot. It was once mistaken as the source of the Nile. (paragraph)
It is currently the largest reservoir of the Nile within Africa, but not the source. The total distance that Lake Victoria covers is measured to be over 2000 miles merely in Diameter. One could only imagine the circumference. Despite this body of water being nothing but a freshwater lake, there are still plenty of islands within its waters to explore and discover. However, this lake has not been without its bad days. Lake Victoria and all of the wildlife and vegetation around it were greatly impacted by over-fishing and heavy traffic back in the early parts of the 21st century. It has taken a few years to recover from the onslaught on the lake’s marine life, but it is getting there slowly but surely. Now it is protected from such harmful actions and reveled for the beauty that it is without others wanting to mess with it.
Lake Victoria is often a tourist spot for those new to Africa because of its direct link to Britain-or more importantly, queen Victoria. However, with all the protection and tourism, do not think it hasn’t gained a population of its own. Not just within 50 miles of the lake all around you can find small African settlements and villages that help maintain and care for the lake. The villages are so connected with the lake, that they even built local steamers around it to anyone who would like to take a moment to relax and enjoy the view. Surprisingly enough though, even if the lake attracts the youth of many generations, this lake is over 400,000 years old. It has dried up a couple of times, this is true, but it always comes back. The last tie Lake Victoria dried up was over roughly 17,000 years ago and shows signs of those years growing.