Location
Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes named after Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. It is located in East Africa and shared by three countries namely Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. It has a surface area of 68,800 sq km .It is largest tropical lake in the world and the second largest fresh water lake by surface area after Lake Superior in North America. Lake Victoria is the world’s ninth largest continental lake. The lake has a maximum depth of 84m and average depth of 40m.The lake has a shoreline of 4,828 km.
The lake is divided among Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania as follows:
Uganda 45%
Kenya 6%
Tanzania 49%
Primary inflows
Lake Victoria receives most of its water from direct precipitation or from thousands of small streams which flow into the lake. The rivers flowing into the lake include Kagera River which comes all the way from Burundi through Rwanda and rivers Sio, Nzoia, Yala, Nyando, Sondu Miriu, Mogusi and the Migori from Kenya.
Primary outflows
The White Nile flows out at Jinja, Uganda on its way to the Mediterrannean Sea and the Katonga River flows out at Lukaya, Uganda on its journey to Lake George in western Uganda.
Fishing
The introduction of exotic fish species, especially the Nile perch, has altered the freshwater ecosystem of the lake and driven several hundred species of native cichlids to near or total extinction.