Chapter 1

Lakes of Africa
Lake Tanganyika Ready? Your air
tank is strapped on your back and
ready to go. Set? You make sure your
scuba mask is tight on your face,
covering your eyes and nose. Your
friend Stephanie gives you a smile.
Go! Together you jump off the boat
into the lake.
Vocabulary
lake, n. a body of water
surrounded by land

The Big Question
What resources and
benefits does each
of the three African
lakes provide to
people?

You’re scuba diving in Lake Tanganyika
(/tan*guh*nee*kuh/), Africa’s deepest and
longest lake. You’ve come to the home of
many of the tropical fish you’ve seen in the
aquarium in your school.

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The frontosa is a species of fish
commonly found in Lake Tanganyika.

Lake Tanganyika is the longest freshwater lake in the world.
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A cloud of shimmering colors swirls past Stephanie and moves
slowly toward you. Suddenly shiny blues, bright golds, and neon
greens sparkle all around you. You can practically hear Stephanie
thinking, “Unbelievable!”
You stop and watch a thousand tiny fish darting around. Most of
them are only as long as your finger, about two or three inches.
Some fish are covered with bold black stripes. Others have polka
dots on their backs and fins. These fish have strange names. Some
are called giraffes. Others are called zebras, daffodils, gold faces,
and six-stripes. Because of the unusual beauty of these fish, people
all over the world pay hundreds of dollars to buy only one or two
of them.
You could watch the fish for hours. You glance over at Stephanie.
She motions upward, as if to say, “Let’s go back up to the boat and
get on with our trip!” You swim to the surface.
Back on the boat, you try to remember what else is unusual about
Lake Tanganyika. You look at your map. Lake Tanganyika is one
of a group of lakes that point like long fingers down the side of
the map.
“Why are these lakes so long, deep, and narrow?” you ask
Stephanie.
“They’re in the rift valley,” she answers.
You both look across Lake Tanganyika
toward the shore, where mountains rise
up from the water’s edge.

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Vocabulary
rift valley, n. a long,
deep, narrow valley in
East Africa

“I read that many centuries ago,” continued Stephanie, “Earth’s
surface cracked and began separating between those mountain
ranges. Gradually the edges of the cracks pulled farther and
farther away from each other. The ground between the edges
dropped down many hundreds of feet, forming deep valleys that
filled up with water to form the lakes.”

Cool Facts About Lake Tanganyika

• Lake Tanganyika is Africa’s second largest lake.
• Lake Tanganyika is the second deepest freshwater lake in the world.
• Lake Tanganyika is part of the border between eastern and central Africa.
“That’s very interesting! Hey! I have an idea. Why don’t we eat fish
for dinner tonight?” you suggest to Stephanie. You don’t mean the
sparkling green and blue fish; you mean
the bigger fish that people catch from
this lake to eat. Fish are a valuable
resource from Lake Tanganyika.
Lake Tanganyika is a long lake. It
touches the boundaries of four different
countries—Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Tanzania, Burundi, and Zambia.
This makes Lake Tanganyika a good
transportation route. Along the lake’s
shores are several towns and small
cities, with docks for ferryboats and

Vocabulary
resource, n.
something that
people can use
“transportation
route,” (phrase), a
path for traveling
from one place to
another
dock, n. a platform
where boats can load
and unload people
and goods

fishing boats.
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Lake
Nasser
EGYPT
Lake
Nasser

dS
Re

R.
White Nile R.

ift

RWANDA
DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC
OF THE CONGO

REPUBLIC OF
THE CONGO

300 miles

0
10° W

0°

10° E

20° E

Gr

ea

t R

CAMEROON
ATLANTIC
OCEAN

R.

10°N
ETHIOPIA

UGANDA
KENYA
Lake Victoria

IA

SOUTH
CENTRAL
SUDAN
AFRICAN REPUBLIC

il e

M
AL

NIGERIA
Lake
Volta

y

eN

SUDAN

Va

Lake Chad

lle

CHAD

Blu

NIGER

ea

Nile

r

er Rive
Nig

Tropic of Cancer

SO

Major African Lakes

Equator
0°
Mt. Kilimanjaro
N INDIAN
BURUNDI
OCEAN
Lake Tanganyika

W
TANZANIA
MALAWI
40° E

ZAMBIA
30° E

E

S

50° E

The map shows the three African lakes featured in this chapter.

“Fish for dinner, and then tomorrow we leave for Lake Victoria,”
Stephanie says.

Lake Victoria
Africa has many other large lakes. These
lakes include Lake Nasser, Lake Volta, Lake
Chad, and Lake Victoria. Lake Victoria
is northeast of Lake Tanganyika. It’s the

Vocabulary
source, n. a starting
point or beginning of
a river’s water

largest lake in Africa. You and Stephanie
have decided to visit Lake Victoria because it is the source of the
famous Nile River. To get from Lake Tanganyika to Lake Victoria,
you cross through the country of Tanzania (/tan*zuh*nee*uh/).
First your jeep climbs up over the mountains along the edge of
Lake Tanganyika. Then you cross the flat, grassy lands of Tanzania.

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You pass through many villages and towns. The road is often quite
crowded with people, bicycles, and motor vehicles. People carry
bundles or babies, talk with each other, and busily do errands.
Tanzania and its neighbor, Kenya, are
famous for their game reserves and
national parks. Tourists visit these parks to
see elephants, giraffes, and other wildlife.
Other tourists climb Mount Kilimanjaro

Vocabulary
game reserve, n. an
area set aside by the
government where
animals are protected
from hunters

(/kil*uh*man*jar*oe/), Africa’s highest
peak. Even though Lake Victoria is near these interesting places,
probably few tourists see what you are about to see.
“We really want to see where the Nile begins,” you tell Paul, your
guide. “In school we learned about the Nile River and how the
ancient Egyptians built the pyramids near it.”
“No problem!” Paul says. “Did you know that Lake Victoria is
named for Queen Victoria of Great Britain? She was queen in
the 1800s. That’s when the first Europeans came to this lake,”
Paul continues.
Many beautiful islands dot this lake. Some of them are quite large.
In one area steep cliffs rise from the shore. In another area the
shore is more like a marsh or swamp. It takes you several days as
you travel from the southern part of the lake in Tanzania to the
northern part of the lake in Uganda. Finally, you reach the place
where water drains out of Lake Victoria.

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“Is this the beginning of the Nile River?” you ask.
“Actually, one of the small rivers that flows into Lake Victoria is
the very beginning of the Nile River,” Paul explains. “But the water
flowing out of the lake is called the Victoria Nile River.”
“The river is still quite small here,” Paul says. “But by the time it
gets to the country of South Sudan, it’s much bigger. It’s called the
White Nile there.”
“Yes,” Stephanie nods, “I remember learning about the White
Nile. In Sudan, it joins with the Blue Nile. The Blue Nile flows from
Ethiopia (/ee*thee*oe*pee*uh/). Together they form the river
called the Nile, the one that flows northward through Egypt.”
“Right,” Paul says. “The Nile is the longest river in the world. Here
you are only at the beginning of it!”

Cool Facts About Lake Victoria

• Lake Victoria is Africa’s largest lake.
• Lake Victoria is the largest tropical lake in the world.
• Lake Victoria is home to more than two hundred different kinds of fish,
including the Nile perch, which can grow up to six feet in length, and
weigh more than four hundred pounds.

Lake Chad
The last African lake on your tour, Lake Chad, is in western Africa.
To get there, you have to fly from Uganda to Nigeria and then
take a jeep to the lake. Like Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika,
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Lake Chad is shared by several countries. Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and
Cameroon each touch the shores of Lake Chad.
“This is really different from the other lakes we saw,” Stephanie
says. “It’s not mountainous here, and the weather is pretty dry.”
You look at the land around the lake. It’s mostly flat. The bright sun
overhead makes the air very hot, about 100°F.
“But,” you remind her, “people have lived around this lake for
thousands of years.”
Two men in a fishing boat stop and ask if you need directions.
They’re brothers who make their living from catching and selling
fish. The brothers, Abdul and Moussa, know the lake well.
“Lake Chad is very shallow,” Abdul says.

Fishing in Lake Chad provides a living for many people in the area.
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“It is deeper from June to September,” says Moussa. “That’s our
rainy season.”
“Look over there,” Abdul says. He points
to the edge of the lake near where you
are standing. “It looks like solid ground,
doesn’t it?”

Vocabulary
papyrus, n. a tall
grasslike plant that
grows in swamps or
wetland areas

You nod in agreement. The area is completely covered with reeds
and other plants.
“It’s not solid ground,” Moussa says. “Those are papyrus and
cattails. They’re actually growing in shallow water, right in
the lake.”
“Now look out there toward the middle of the lake,” Abdul says.
You see some places where the water’s surface looks rough and
lumpy with spots of color.
“What is that?” Stephanie asks.
“Waterlilies,” says Moussa. “Hundreds of them. They’re so crowded
together that they form a mat that is almost solid.”
Like Abdul and Moussa, many people make their living by fishing
in the lake. Others have farms or graze livestock nearby. But it’s
fish that you see for sale everywhere. In fish markets, on the docks,
and along the streets, people sell dried fish, fresh fish, salted fish,
and smoked fish.

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Cool Facts About Lake Chad

• Lake Chad is getting smaller. Six thousand years ago, Lake Chad was
twenty times bigger!

• Farming is becoming more difficult around Lake Chad. The lake’s water
used to support neighboring farmland. As the lake has shrunk, the water
available for farming has become scarce. This water shortage affects
thousands of people.

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