Lake Chew Bahir (
Amharic
Amharic ( or ; (Amharic: ), ', ) is an Ethiopian Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas, and also serves as a lingua franca for all oth ...
: ጨው ባሕር ''č̣ew bāhir'', "salty lake") or Lake Istifanos, also called Stefanie, Basso Naebor and Chuwaha,
[ is a ]lake
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
in southern Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
, located on the southwestern end of the , near the border with Oromia Region
Oromia (Amharic: ) ( om, Oromiyaa) is a regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. The capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa.
It is bordered by the Somali Region to the east; the Amhara Region, the Afar Region and the Benis ...
.
Geography
When the Lake Chew Bahir is filled, it stretches into northern Kenya
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
. Lying at the center of the Stephanie Wildlife Sanctuary, the lake measures some by .
This lake is the southernmost and lowest (1,880 ft, 573 m) of a series of lakes
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...
which lie in the north-easterly continuation of the Great Rift Valley
The Great Rift Valley is a series of contiguous geographic trenches, approximately in total length, that runs from Lebanon in Asia to Mozambique in Southeast Africa. While the name continues in some usages, it is rarely used in geology as it ...
; its watershed is separated from the watershed of Lake Turkana by the Humu Range
The VL Humu (Whirlwind) is a Finnish fighter aircraft, designed by Valtion lentokonetehdas in 1944, and based on the American Brewster F2A Buffalo.
Design and development
The Finnish Air Force had acquired 40+ surplus B-239 naval variants of ...
and the hills south of it. The Kumbi Range rises on its eastern side. Chew Bahir is fed from the north by the Weito River
The Weito River (also known as the Weyt’o Wenz, Tullaya River) is a river in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. It rises in the Guge Mountains, flowing south into Lake Chew Bahir at latitude and longitude .
T ...
, and its tributary the Galana Sagan. The Galana Sagan receives the overflow of Lake Chamo
Lake Chamo ( Amharic: ቻሞ ሐይቅ) is a lake in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of southern Ethiopia. Located in the Main Ethiopian Rift, it is at an elevation of 1,110 meters. The Chamo lake is just to the south of ...
in some years, but no permanent connection exists.
History
Count Sámuel Teleki was the first European to visit the lake in 1888, and named it for Princess Stéphanie of Belgium
Princess Stéphanie Clotilde Louise Herminie Marie Charlotte of Belgium (21 May 1864 – 23 August 1945) was a Belgian princess who became Crown Princess of Austria through marriage to Crown Prince Rudolf, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hu ...
, the wife of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria
en, Rudolph Francis Charles Joseph
, caption = Rudolf in 1887
, spouse =
, issue = Elisabeth Marie, Princess Otto of Windisch-Graetz
, house = Habsburg-Lorraine
, father = Franz Joseph I of Austria
, mother ...
. Following Teleki's visit, Lake Chew Bahir and the neighboring lakes were explored by Arthur Donaldson Smith
Arthur Donaldson Smith (1866–1939) was an American physician, hunter, and explorer of Africa. In the 1890s he made a geological expedition to Lake Rudolph (now Lake Turkana), passing through what was then Somaliland, southern Ethiopia and Kenya ...
, Vittorio Bottego
Vittorio Bottego (; Parma, 29 July 1860 – Dhaga Roba, 17 March 1897) was an Italian army officer and one of the first Western explorers of Jubaland in the Horn of Africa (now part of Gidami, West Wellega Ethiopia), where he led two expedition ...
, M. S. Welby, Oscar Neumann
Oscar Rudolph Neumann (3 September 1867 in Berlin – 17 May 1946 in Chicago) was a German ornithologist and naturalist who explored and collected specimens in Africa. He fled via Cuba and settled in the United States to escape Nazi persecutio ...
and others. J. J. Harrison in 1899 found the lake quite dried up, and two years later Count Wickenburg found water only in the northern part.[ In 1960 the lake covered about 2,000 km2, but shrank to a swamp over the rest of the 20th century.
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chew Bahir
Lakes of Ethiopia
Lakes of Kenya
Saline lakes of the Great Rift Valley
Ethiopia–Kenya border
International lakes of Africa
Chew
Chewing or mastication is the process by which food is crushed and ground by teeth. It is the first step of digestion, and it increases the surface area of foods to allow a more efficient break down by enzymes. During the mastication process, ...
Important Bird Areas of Ethiopia