Largest Lakes in Zambia

Geography

Lake Tanganyika is an ancient lake, one of only twenty more than a million years old. Its three basins, which in periods with lower water levels were separate lakes, are of different ages. The central lake began to form 9–12 million years ago (Mya), the northern 7–8 Mya and the southern 2–4 Mya.

Today Lake Tanganyika is situated within the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift, and is confined by the mountainous walls of the valley. It is the largest rift lake in Africa and the second-largest freshwater lake by volume in the world. It is the deepest lake in Africa and holds the greatest volume of fresh water on the continent, accounting for 16% of the world's available fresh water.

History

It is thought that early Homo sapiens were making an impact on the region during the Stone Age. The time period of the Middle Stone Age to Late Stone Age is described as an age of advanced hunter-gatherers.

In the mid–19th century, Swahili Arab traders from Zanzibar established a caravan route from Bagamoyo via Tabora to Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika. They brought sailing dhows to navigate the lake and traded in slaves, ivory, guns and cotton. Chief among these traders was Tippu Tip in the second half of the 19th century, who established a state west of the lake.

The first known Westerners to find the lake were the British explorers Richard Burton and John Speke, in 1858. They located it while searching for the source of the Nile River.

Ecology

During the filling phase of the lake, the water was high in nutrients from decomposing inundated vegetation, creating a thick layer of fertile soil on land that became the lake bed. As a result, the ecology of Lake Kariba is vibrant. A number of fish species have been introduced to the lake, notably the sardine-like kapenta (transported from Lake Tanganyika), which now supports a thriving commercial fishery. Other inhabitants include the Nile crocodiles and hippopotamuses.

Gamefish, particularly tigerfish, which are indigenous to the Zambezi river system, now thrive on the kapenta, which in turn encourages tourism. Both Zambia and Zimbabwe are attempting to develop tourism along their respective shores.

History

The lake was known to Europeans from reports by chiefs such as Kazembe and from Swahili traders, and it was sometimes referred to as 'Lake Bemba' from the name of the dominant tribe. In 1868 explorer and missionary David Livingstone was the first European to see the lake at the north end of the Lake Chifunabuli section. He was taken by canoe as far as Mbabala Island. His last expedition a few years later foundered in the swamps and their maze of shifting channels as he struggled to discover the rivers draining in and out of the lake. He died in 1873 in Chief Chitambo's village on the edge of the southern flood plain, about 100 km from the lake itself. The spot is marked by the Livingstone Memorial (see map).