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. Lake Victoria is 68,800 square kilometres (26,600 sq mi) 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[1] in terms of surface area (third largest if one considers Lake Michigan-Huron as a single lake). Being relatively shallow for its size, with a maximum depth of 84 m (276 ft) and a mean depth of 40 m (131 ft), Lake Victoria ranks as the seventh largest freshwater lake by volume, containing 2,750 cubic kilometers (2.2 million acre-feet) of water. 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 kilometeres (71,040 sq mi). It is a biological hotspot with great biodiversity. The lake lies within an elevated plateau in the western part of Africa's Great Rift Valley and is subject to territorial administration by Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. The lake has a shoreline of 3,440 km (2,138 mi), and has more than 3,000 islands, many of which are inhabited. These include the Ssese Islands in Uganda, a large group of islands in the northwest of the lake that are becoming a popular destination for tourists. Lake Victoria is relatively young; its current basin formed only 400,000 years ago, when westward-flowing rivers were dammed by an upthrown crustal block.[2] 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. These drying cycles are probably related to past ice ages, which are times when precipitation declined globally. The lake last dried out 17,300 years ago, and filled again beginning 14,700 years ago; the fantastic adaptive radiation of its native .
Lake Victoria, the largest of all African Lakes, is also the second widest freshwater body in the world. Its extensive surface belongs to the three countries; the northern half to Uganda, the southern half to Tanzania, and part of the northeastern sector to Kenya. The lake occupies a wide depression near the equator, between the East and West Great Rift Valleys, but its drainage basin is relatively small, being slightly less than three times the lake's surface in area. The lake water is drained at a rate of about 600 m3 sec-1, at Jinja on the northern shore, into the Victoria Nile which flows northward via Lake Albert and the White Nile forming the uppermost reaches of the Nile River. The lake shore is highly indented, and there are many isles in the lake, some of which, especially the Sesse Group, are known for their beautiful landscape, health resorts and sightseeing places. Abundant prehistoric remains found around the lake indicate the early development of agriculture. There are a number of coastal towns such as Kisumu (Kenya), Entebe (Uganda), Bukoba, Muwanza and Musoma (Tanzania), connected with each other by ship routes and also to the cities of the Indian Ocean coast by railways. The dam constructed in 1954 at Owen Falls on the Victoria Nile supplies electricity and water for various uses in Uganda and Kenya. Lake Victoria does have a season of deep vertical mixing when in fact the lake becomes isothermal. During June and July the established thermocline breaks down under the seasonal onset of the south-east trade winds and for a brief period at the end of July the main body of the lake becomes isothermal with respect to depth (Talling, 1966). The depth and stability of the thermocline depends upon the duration of the calm, warming period and the frequency and magnitude of mixing events. In Lake Victoria where the thermocline most often occurs at 30-40 m depth, complete mixing of this enormous water body occurs once a year and partial mixing occurs at other times
Lake Victoria is the world's second largest freshwater lake covering an area of 67,850 sq km. This vast expanse, about the size of the Republic of Ireland, forms the headwaters of the River Nile. Its Kenya focus, Kisumu is 350 km from Nairobi by road. Three nations share the waters of the lake - Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Kenya's share is the smallest (3785 sq km) but there is a busy network of waterways between the trading towns and villages which lie along the shores of the lake. Passenger boats and small cargo vessels ply daily from Kisumu as far as the Tanzanian border and north to Port Victoria near Uganda. Kisumu, the largest town in western Kenya and the nation's third largest (population approximately 250,000), is the home of several small industries notably fish processing and cotton goods manufacture. The town came into existence with the completion, in 1901, of the first section of the Uganda Railway five years after plate laying began 1000 km away in Mombasa. It was briefly called Port Florence. Only forty years earlier, the English explorer Speke, having travelled along the western shore of the lake reached a place he named Ripon Falls. It was these cataracts, at what is now Jinja in Uganda, which he proclaimed the source of the Nile. Lake Victoria is the second largest freshwater lake in the world and covers 67,483 sq km. The lake is not part of the rift valley system and, at only 100 meter deep, is very wide and shallow compared to other bodies of water. Lake Victoria acts as a boundary between Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya, yet international water travel between the countries is no longer possible. The only lake excursions available occur between Kisumu and ports farther south. Kenya actually owns only a tiny 3,785 sq km corner of the lake. The lake attracted great interest from Europeans after its discovery. In 1858, John Hanning Speke was the first European to cite the vast lake as the source of the White Nile. The assertion was ridiculed until H.M. Stanley eventually proved him right in 1875. The colonial powers had hoped to open a navigable route along the Nile to the Mediterranean. Their attempts to reach Uganda across the lake were also responsible for the creation of the East African Railway and the colonization of the Kenyan Highlands. Kisumu is the third largest town in Kenya with a population of approximately 160,000. The town was originally founded as the inland railhead of the East African Railway in 1901. Kisumu had been a busy port town since its early days, but the break up of the East African Community in 1977 coupled with the cessation of international ferry services on the lake substantially slowed the town's once bustling pace.
