LAKE VICTORIA BASIN
Lake Victoria is located in East Africa. The Lake drains areas within Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania, as shown in Figure 1.1. The Basin is linked to the Nile River Basin through the White Nile (Abtew and Melesse 2014) and contributes much of the headwaters of Africa’s longest River. The basin
The largest portion of the Lake Victoria Basin (LVB) is in Tanzania – 44 per cent (85,448 km 2 ) of the Basin’s drainage area; while Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi make up 22 per cent (42,724 km 2 ), 16 per cent (31,072 km 2 ), 11 per cent (21,362 km 2 ) and 7 per cent (13,594 km 2 ), respectively (Lake Victoria Basin Commission 2007a).
Table 1.1: Lake Victoria surface area, catchment area and shoreline statistics
Lake surface area
Catchment area
Lake shoreline length
% 16 51 33
% 22 16 44 07 11 100
% 6 43 51
Km 2 42,724 31,072 85,448 13,594 21,362 194,200
Km 550
Country Kenya Uganda Tanzania Burundi Rwanda Total
Km 2 4,128
1,750 1,150 0 0 3,450
29,584 35,088 0 0 68,800
0 0 100
0 0 100
Source: Lake Victoria Basin Commission 2002
Lake Victoria Basin
M o n t s B l e u s
Lira
Lake Albert
KENYA
Lake Kyoga Victoria Nile
B u g a n d a
Kitale
DEMOCRATIC REPUBIC OF THE CONGO
Mbale
Lake Baringo
UGANDA
l e y
Eldoret
Jinja
Kampala
Kakamega
R u w e n z o r i
R i f t V a l
Lake Wamala
Lake Bogoria
Katonga
Kisumu
Nzola
Lake George
Entebbe
Nakuru
Lake Edward
Lake Kachira
Sondu
Mbarara
Lake Kyanebalola
Lake Victoria
Lake Naivasha
V i r u n g a
Kagera
Nairobi
Bukoba
Lake Ikimba
Musoma
Ruhengeri
Mara
RWANDA
Lake Kivu
Gitarama
Altitude
Kigali
Kibungo
Kibuye
5 000 m
Lake Burigi
Mbalageti
Mwanza
4 000
Butare
3 000
Simiyu
Ngozi
Lake Victoria basin
BURUNDI
2 000
Secondary river systems
Gitega
Bujumbura
1 500
Tertiary river systems
1 000
Capitals Other cities Main road Major settlements
100 km
TANZANIA
500
Lake Tangayika
More than 25 000 inhabitants
200
Copyright©2016GRID-Arendal ·Cartografare ilpresente/NievesLópez Izquierdo
Figure 1.1: The Lake Victoria Basin
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