| Lake Victory | | | | and catch sizes began to drop. The ecosystem of |
| The first recorded information about Lake Victoria | | | | Lake Victoria and its surroundings have been badly |
| comes from Arabs traders plying the inland routes in | | | | affected by human influence. In 1954, the Nile perrch |
| search of gold, ivory, other precious commodities and | | | | (Lates niloticus) was first introduced into the lake's |
| slaves. Excellent maps known as the Al Adrisi map | | | | ecosystem in an attempt to improve fishery yields of |
| dated from the 1160s, clearly show as an accurate | | | | the lake. Introduction efforts strengthened during the |
| representation of Lake Victoria, and point it as being | | | | early 1960s. The species was present in small |
| the source of the Nile. | | | | numbers until the early to mid 1980s, when it |
| | | | underwent a massive population expansion and came |
| Lake Victoria is 68,800 square kilometers in size, | | | | to dominate the fish community and ecology of the |
| making it the continent's largest lake in the largest | | | | world's largest tropical lake. Also introduced was the |
| tropical lake in the world, and the second largest fresh | | | | Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), now an important |
| water lake in the world in terms of surface area. Being | | | | food fish for local consumption. The Nile perch (Lates |
| relatively shallow for its size, with a maximum depth of | | | | niloticus) proved ecologically and socioeconomic ally |
| 84 m and a mean depth of 40 m, Lake Victoria, | | | | disturbing. Together with pollution born of deforestation |
| shared by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, was named | | | | and overpopulation (of both people and domestic |
| after the Queen of England. This region of Africa is | | | | animals), the Nile perch has also brought about a |
| better known for its large cats and the herds of | | | | massive transformation in the lake ecosystem and to |
| wildebeests, zebras and giraffes that roam the | | | | the disappearance of hundreds of endemic |
| savannah plains, its most diverse and endangered | | | | Haplochlomine cichlid species. Many of these are now |
| ecosystems are to be found under water. | | | | accepted to be entirely vanished. A number of other |
| . | | | | species are vanished in the wild, with populations being |
| Lake Victory ranks as the seventh largest freshwater | | | | maintained in zoos and aquaria, e.g. as part of the |
| by the volume, containing 2,750 cubic kilometers of | | | | Association of Zoos and Aquarium's Species Survival |
| water. It is the source of the longest branch of the Nile | | | | Plans for these species. Some species which were |
| River, the White Nile, and has a water catchments | | | | extirpated from Lake Victoria itself are known to |
| area of 184,000 square kilometers. It is a biological | | | | survive in nearby smaller so-called satellite lakes, such |
| hotspot with great biodiversity. The lake lies within an | | | | as Lake kyago, Lake Edward, and Lake Albert. By the |
| elevated plateaus in the western part of Africa's | | | | 1950s, popular species, such as Ngege (Oreochromis |
| Great Rift Valley and is subject to territorial | | | | esculentus), had reduced so severely that they had |
| administration by Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. The | | | | become commercially extinct. |
| lake has a shoreline of 3,440 km, and has more than | | | | The only outflow for Lake Victoria is at Jinja, in |
| 3,000 islands, many of which are occupied. These | | | | Uganda where it forms the Victoria Nile. The water |
| include the Ssese Islands in Uganda. Lake Victoria, | | | | originally drained over a natural rock weir. In 1952 British |
| shared by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, was named | | | | colonial engineers irritating out the weir and reservoir. A |
| after the Queen of England. This region of Africa is | | | | standard for imitating the old rate of outflow called the |
| better known for its large cats and the herds of | | | | "agreed curve" was established, setting the maximum |
| wildebeests, zebras and giraffes that roam the | | | | flow rate at 300 to 1,700 cubic meters per second |
| savannah plains, its most diverse and endangered | | | | depending on the lake's water level. |
| ecosystems are to be found under water, hence it | | | | About the transportation in 1900s Lake Victoria ferries |
| becomes very popular destination for tourism. | | | | have been an important means of transport between |
| Early in the 20th century, a few decades after | | | | Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. The main ports on the |
| Speke's 'discovery', the colonialists started to exploit | | | | lake are Kisumu, Mwanza, Bukoba, Entebbe, Port Bell |
| Lake Victoria's watershed. They cleared the | | | | and Jinja. |
| surrounding natural vegetation, discarding forests and | | | | Lake Victory as like other water bodies it cause many |
| draining swamps, to plant cash crops, such as tea, | | | | of disaster especially in the fishing activities and the |
| coffee and sugar. | | | | navigation too, especially the steamer MV Bukoba |
| The plantations attracted migrant workers who settled | | | | sank in the lake on October 3, 1995, killing nearly 1,000 |
| in the area. As the population grew and fishing | | | | people. |
| methods advanced, overfishing became a problem | | | | |