What Do You Know About Lake Victoria?

Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes.

It was named Lake Victory after the Queen of Britain and by an explorer named John Hanning Speke in 1858.

The British explorer and also an army officer embarked on his expedition to discover the source of the river Nile.

Against this background, he discovered Lake Victoria as the source of the Nile River.

The lake was known to locals as Nam Lolwe in Dholuo and Nnalubaale or Ukerewe in Luganda.

It has a surface area of approximately 59,947 km2 (23,146 sq mi), Lake Victoria is Africa’s largest lake by area, the world’s largest tropical lake, and the world’s second-largest freshwater lake by surface area after Lake Superior in North America.

In terms of volume, Lake Victoria is the world’s ninth-largest continental lake, containing about 2,424 km3 (1.965×109 acre⋅ft) of water. Lake Victoria occupies a shallow depression in Africa. The lake has an average depth of 40 m (130 ft) and a maximum depth of 80–81 m (262–266 ft). Its catchment area covers 169,858 km2 (65,583 sq mi). The lake has a shoreline of 7,142 km (4,438 mi) when digitized at the 1:25,000 level, with islands constituting 3.7% of this length.

Lake Victoria is located at the border of Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania in the African continent. River Nile originates from Lake Victoria and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. Victoria Lake is the largest tropical lake in the world and one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world.

The lake has some islands in it and some inhabitants by people.

The Lake Victoria basin, while generally rural, has many major centers of population. Its shores are dotted with key cities and towns, including Kisumu, Kisii, and Homa Bay in Kenya; Kampala, Jinja, and Entebbe in Uganda; and Bukoba, Mwanza, and Musoma in Tanzania.

Lake Victoria is the world’s largest tropical lake and the largest lake in the African Great Lakes region. The lake supports the largest freshwater fishery in the world, producing 1 million tons of fish per year and employing 200,000 people in supporting the livelihoods of 4 million people.

Speke Resort in Entebbe -Uganda, is one of the largest resorts along the lake, especially in Uganda. It is also known as the Common Wealth Resort with modern facilities. This resort, with the largest venue or conference halls, is often used to host international programs.

Its hotel can accommodate about 500 plus people at a go.

This distance from Speke Resort or Common Wealth Resort to the main Township of Kampala is about 12 kilometers.

By: Ayamga Bawa Fatawu