Rift Valley Lakes in Uganda
Rift Valley Lakes in Uganda
Rift valley lakes in Uganda are not famous as they should be to the world. This is, perhaps, because the Ugandan rift or the albertine rift valley is shadowed by the Kenyan arm of the great African rift valley, but in actual sense, the Ugandan rift valley is even longer and greater than the Kenyan arm.
The rift valley lakes are majorly three that id; lake albert, lake George and lake Edward, are all painted victoria as they pick their names from queen victoria of England centuries back. It is right to look at the rift valley lakes ass part of the great and famous queen Elizabeth national park; Lake George and Edward, linked by kazinga channel, are found in the south eastern part of Queen Elizabeth national park.
The rift valley lakes are associated with beautiful landscape changing from grassland to riverine vegetation north of the Lake Albert. The rift valley lake region is dotted with a number of craters formed after the movement of the plates of the earth crust millions of years ago during tectonic movement that lead to the formation of the rift valley. The volcanic action or volcanism beneath the surface of the place is witnessed by the periodic earth quakes of the in the area.
The area of the rift valley lakes is recognized as an Eco region or biodiversity hotspot by UNESCO and also a worldwide biosphere reserve. Perhaps this is the reason why Queen Elizabeth national park is holding its image on worldwide level. The rift valley area has over 1000 bird species some of which are endemic and others endangered like the shoebill stork, plus, over 100 mammals and reptiles shared by Queen Elizabeth national park.
Lake Edward or rutanzige or Edward nyanza happens to be among the small lake of Uganda as compared to the others. It is located on the border of Uganda and Congo south west of Queen Elizabeth national park. It covers an area of 2325 sq. km with the depth of about 376ft and water volume of 39.5cu.km. Its primary in lets is river nyamugasani, river ishasha, rutshuru, river rwindi, river ntungwe and river rubilia among others and, its major outlet is river semliki that flows into Lake Albert.
You can enjoy seeing a lot of wildlife along the shoreline of lake Edward, for example, hippos, elephants, bird species like the king fishers, fish eagles, white backed vultures among others. Also the views and the variation in the vegetation with in the rift valley lake area are spectacular.
Lake Edward was named by the first European explorer to see it, which happens to be sir henry Morton Stanley in 1889. It was named after the British Prince of Wales, Edwards the 7th son of queen of England. The naming of Lake Edward is associated with a number of drama factors; president of Uganda then, idi amin, named lake Edward by his name; Lake Idi amin, during his regime, but late the lake regained its name to Lake Edward later in 1973 when president idi amin was over thrown.
Another lake associated with the great western rift valley is; Lake George which is smaller and shallower than the latter. It has a papyrus swamp alignment which is recognized among the ramsar sites in Africa. However, the silt from the rwenzori through river mubuku, its inlet, is a big treat to the existence of the lake; its depth in some part is even not more than 2.4m.
Lake George is drained by rive mubuku in the north, and river mpanga, are the major inlets to Lake George. In spite of a number of many in lets, Lake George has only one outlet and that is the kazinga channel in the south of mweya; where queen Elizabeth national park Uganda wild life headquarters are located.
You can also enjoy a lot of activities when you visit the communities near lake George like canoeing, regattas, sport fishing, you can as well enjoy your catch in form of a fresh fish snack. Sight-seeing is also spectacular, you can enjoy the view of mountain rwenzori and beautiful swamp vegetation plus a number of loser buffaloes and elephants, lucky, and you can also stop statungas and a lot of birds as you roll your boat merrily on Lake George in Queen Elizabeth national park.
Albert is the last lake in the rift valley as you head north wards; it is an elongated rift valley lake deepest among the rest rift valley lakes in Uganda, with approximately 613m deep, and it is ranked 7th largest in Africa. Lake Edward was named after Prince Albert of England by Sir Samuel baker, the first European to see it in 1864. Despite the name, the local people near Lake Albert used to call it mwitanzige, meaning, the killer of locusts, I cannot tell why so.
Lately, Lake Albert has been making news headlines due to the discovery of oil in the northern shoreline. Despite the positive things that come along with the discovery of oil, there is a lot of negative impact that is going to be felt on the biodiversity of the area, the oil discovery is a story for another day. Lake Albert has no major town near the shoreline apart from the bulisa community found in the north of the lake itself. The people near to Lake Albert, are pastoralists with no much civilization, they live in traditional huts.
The rift valley lakes are associated with a lot of wild life that is unique, plus, birds that are endemic, for, example the endangered shoe bill stock. Community walks around the lake communities, are fantastic as they expose you to a lot of knowledge about the African traditional society through stories told by the local people that dwell in these national park human settlement area.
During your visit to Uganda, just let your itinerary include a visit to the rift valleys lakes of Uganda, you will be thrilled with the greatness exhibited or associated with the lakes, like the wildlife, community tours, life style and eye-catching views of the land scape.
