Lake Edward
NASA Landsat photo of Lake Edward and Lake George showing the Kazinga Channel between them
Coordinates	0°20′S 29°36′ECoordinates: 0°20′S 29°36′E
Lake type	River
Primary outflows	Semliki River Kazinga Channel
Catchment area	12,096 km²
Basin countries	Democratic Republic of Congo Uganda
Max. length	77 km
Max. width	40 km
Surface area	2,325 km²
Average depth	17m
Max. depth	112m
Water volume	39.5km³
Surface elevation	912 m

Lake Edward is the smallest of the Great Lakes of Africa. It is located in the western Great Rift Valley, on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, with its northern shore a few kilometers south of the Equator. The lake was named by the explorer Henry Morton Stanley in honour of Prince Albert Edward, The Prince of Wales. Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ... For other uses, see Lake (disambiguation). ... Semliki River is a major river in Central Africa. ... Hippos at Kazinga channel The Kazinga Channel in Uganda is a wide, 32km long body of water that links Lake Edward and Lake George, and a dominant feature of Queen Elizabeth National Park. ... A drainage basin is the area within the drainage basin divide (blue outline), and drains the surface runoff and river discharge (green lines) of a contiguous area. ... A drainage basin is the area within the drainage basin divide (blue outline), and drains the surface runoff and river discharge (green lines) of a contiguous area. ... The Democratic Republic of the Congo, called Zaïre between 1971 and 1997, is a nation in central Africa. ... The Great Lakes of Africa are a series of lakes in and around the Great Rift Valley. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ... Northern section of the Great Rift Valley. ... World map showing the equator in red In tourist areas, the equator is often marked on the sides of roads The equator marked as it crosses Ilhéu das Rolas, in São Tomé and Príncipe. ... Sir Henry Morton Stanley, also known in the Congo as Bula Matari (Breaker of Rocks or, alternatively, Sledge Hammer) , born John Rowlands (January 28, 1841 – May 10, 1904), was a journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and his search for David Livingstone. ... Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death on 6 May 1910. ...

Lake Edward from Mweya in Queen Elizabeth National Park

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2272x1704, 1798 KB)Lake Edward from Mweya in Ugandas Queen Elizabeth national Park. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2272x1704, 1798 KB)Lake Edward from Mweya in Ugandas Queen Elizabeth national Park. ...

History

Stanley first saw the lake in 1875, and thinking it was part of Lake Albert, named it Beatrice Gulf. On his second visit in 1888 through 1889, he realized that there were two independent lakes, and gave it its current name.^[1] In the 1970s and 1980s, Uganda and Zaire (Democratic Republic of the Congo) renamed it Lake Idi Amin or Lake Idi Amin Dada after Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. After his overthrow in 1979, the name was changed back to Lake Edward. Idi Amin Dada (mid-1920s[1]–16 August 2003) was an army officer and president of Uganda. ...

Geography

Topography and drainage

Lake Edward lies at an elevation of 920 metres, is 77 km long by 40 km wide at its maximum points, and covers a total surface area of 2,325 km² (the 15th largest on the continent). The lake is fed by the Nyamugasani, the Ishasha, the Rutshuru, and the Rwindi rivers. It empties to the north via the Semliki River into Lake Albert. Lake George to the northeast empties into Lake Edward via the Kazinga Channel. Semliki River is a major river in Central Africa. ... For other uses, see Lake Albert (disambiguation). ... For other bodies of water with the same name, see Lake George. ... Hippos at Kazinga channel The Kazinga Channel in Uganda is a wide, 32km long body of water that links Lake Edward and Lake George, and a dominant feature of Queen Elizabeth National Park. ...

The western escarpment of the Great Rift Valley towers up to 2000 m above the western shore of the lake. The southern and eastern shores are flat lava plains. The Ruwenzori Mountains lie 20 km north of the lake.^[2] In geology, an escarpment is a transition zone between different physiogeographic provinces that involves an elevation differential, often involving high cliffs. ... Look up lava, Aa, pahoehoe in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Ruwenzori Range is a small mountain range of central Africa, often referred to as Mt. ...

Volcanism

The region shows much evidence of volcanic activity in the last 5000 years. The Katwe-Kikorongo and Bunyaruguru Volcanic Fields, with extensive cones and craters, lie either side of the Kazinga Channel on the north-west shore of the lake. It is thought that Lakes George and Edward have been joined as one larger lake in the past, but lava from these fields flowed in and divided it, leaving only the Kazinga Channel as the remnant of the past union. To the south, the May-ya-Moto thermally active volcano lies 30 km away, and the Nyamuragira volcano in the western Virunga Mountains lies 80 km south, but its lava flows have reached the lake in the past.^[2] This is a list of active and extinct volcanoes in Uganda. ... This is a list of active and extinct volcanoes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. ... Mount Nyamuragira is an active volcano in the Virunga Mountains of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. ... Christiaan Toussaint (born on May 20, 1987) and Jurgen Lomp (born on January 23, 1988) are two promosing Tech Trance producers under the name of Virunga. ...

The Katwe-Kikorongo field features dozens of large craters and cones covering an area of 30 km by 15 km between lakes Edward and George, and includes seven crater lakes. The largest of these, the 2.5-kilometre-long Lake Katwe, occupies a crater 4 km across and is separated from Lake Edward by just 300 m of land. The crater is about 100 m deep, and Lake Katwe's surface is about 40 m lower than Lake Edward's. It is remarkable that the volcanic origin of this area south-east of the Ruwenzoris was not known until reported by G. F. Scott Elliot in 1894. Stanley visited Lake Katwe in 1889 and noted the deep depression, the salinity of the lake, and a spring of sulphurous water nearby, but failed to connect this to volcanism.^[3]

The similarly-sized Bunyaruguru field on the other side of the Kazinga Channel contains about 30 crater lakes, some larger than Katwe.

Settlements

Lake Edward lies completely within the Virunga National Park (Congo) and the Queen Elizabeth National Park (Uganda) and does not have extensive human habitation on its shores, except at Ishango (DRC) in the north, home to a park ranger training facility. About two-thirds of its waters are in the DR Congo and one third in Uganda. Apart from Ishango, the main Congolese settlement in the south is Vitshumbi, while the Ugandan settlements are Mweya and Katwe in the north-east, near the crater lake of that name, which is the chief producer of salt for Uganda. The Mweya Safari Lodge is the main tourist facility, serving both Lake Edward and Lake Katwe. The nearest cities are Kasese in Uganda to the north-east and Butembo in DR Congo, to the north-west, which are respectively about 50 km and 150 km distant by road.^[4] The Virunga National Park lies in the Virunga Mountains of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, bordering Volcans National Park in Rwanda and Rwenzori National Park in Uganda. ... The Queen Elizabeth National Park is Ugandas most-visited game reserve. ... Kasese is a district in western Uganda. ... Butembo is a city in north eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, lying west of the Virunga National Park. ...

Ecology

Rivers and lakes of Uganda.
Click image to enlarge.

Lake Edward is home to many species of fish, including populations of Bagrus docmac, Sarotherodon niloticus, Sarotherodon leucostictus, and over 50 species of Haplochromis and other haplochromine species, of which only 8 are formally described. Fishing is an important activity among local residents. Fauna living on the banks of the lake – including chimpanzees, elephants, crocodiles, and lions – are protected by the national parks. The area is also home to many perennial and migratory bird species. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 590 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (650 × 660 pixel, file size: 31 KB, MIME type: image/png) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 590 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (650 × 660 pixel, file size: 31 KB, MIME type: image/png) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Haplochromis is the largest genus of fish in the family Cichlidae, many of which are endemic to Lake Victoria in East Africa. ... The haplochromine cichlids, subfamily Haplochrominae, are a grouping of genera including Haplochromis plus a number of closely related genera (such as Aulonocara, Astatotilapia, and Chilotiplapia) endemic to eastern and southern Africa. ...

References

A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ...

External links

• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
• World Lakes Database (for facts & figures)