The Great Lakes of Africa are a series of lakes in and around the Great Rift Valley. They include Lake Victoria, the second largest fresh water lake in the world in terms of surface area, and Lake Tanganyika, the world’s second largest in terms of volume as well as the second deepest.

About 100,000 years ago, when the rise in the shoulders of the Western Rift resulted in the reversal of the westward-flowing drainage of such rivers as the Kagera, Katonga, and Kyoga-Kafu, Lakes Victoria and Kyoga were formed by water diverted from the northern section of the rift.

The great lakes of Africa, Lakes Victoria, Malawi, and Tanganyika, are located in East Africa in the vicinity of the Great Rift Valleys and hold approximately 27% of the world’s freshwater.

seven lakes

Lake Tanganyika

These include the 3 largest lakes in Africa – Victoria, Tanganyika and Malawi – as well as lakes Turkana, Albert, Edward, Kivu and several others. The lakes are important habitats for a number of fish and amphibian species, abundant birdlife and numerous crocodiles.

Uganda

These are the largest lakes in Africa.

1. Lake Victoria. Lake Victoria is the largest freshwater body in Africa and the second largest in the world, smaller only than Lake Superior, which is one of North America’s Great Lakes.
2. Lake Tanganyika.
3. Lake Nyassa.
4. Lake Turkana.
5. Lake Albert.
6. Lake Rukwa.
7. Lake Mweru.
8. Lake Kivu.

Lake Victoria is the largest of all African lakes and the sec- ond largest freshwater body in the world, with a surface area of about 68 800 km2 (27 000 square miles).

5 Largest Lakes In The World

• Caspian Sea. Don’t let the name confuse you.
• Lake Superior. Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake and the second largest lake in the world by surface area.
• Lake Victoria.
• Lake Huron.
• Lake Michigan.

Lake Baikal

Lake Titicaca

the Dead Sea

La Rinconada

Humans have survived for two years at 5,950 m (19,520 ft, 475 millibars of atmospheric pressure), which is the highest recorded permanently tolerable altitude; the highest permanent settlement known, La Rinconada, is at 5,100 m (16,700 ft).

Then you could do far worse than take a trip to Bhutan, the country with the highest average elevation on the planet. While the Drangme Chhu valley drops to 97 metres below sea level, and the summit of Gangkhar Puensum is 7,570m above it, Bhutan’s average elevation is 3,280m.

There are no trees There are four countries with no forest whatsoever, according to the World Bank’s definition: San Marino, Qatar, Greenland and Oman.