Lake R'Kiz or Rkiz 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
Mauritania
Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...
with an area of 12,970 ha.
Ecology
Since the lake is fed by surplus water from the
Senegal River
,french: Fleuve Sénégal)
, name_etymology =
, image = Senegal River Saint Louis.jpg
, image_size =
, image_caption = Fishermen on the bank of the Senegal River estuary at the outskirts of Saint-Louis, Senegal ...
, during the rainy season it can increase to a maximum length of 34 km and a width of up to 8 km,
while the water level can fluctuate by as much as 4.29 m.
In the marshland along its fringes,
Phragmite and
Typha
''Typha'' is a genus of about 30 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. These plants have a variety of common names, in British English as bulrush or reedmace, in American English as reed, cattail, or punks, in A ...
reeds are growing, which are cut for
thatching
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...
. Several species of birds are present, as are numerous snakes and small mammals such as otters and mongoose.
Slender-snouted crocodiles can also be found.
Economy
The lake has been used for fishing,
but agriculture is also prevalent.
Although the region has seen several agriculture projects aimed at benefiting farmers both by the
Islamic Development Bank and ''The Food Crisis Prevention Network'',
like elsewhere in Mauritania, significant portions of the local population continued to suffer from living conditions
comparable to modern slavery.
References
R'Kiz
R' Kiz or Rkiz is a town and urban commune in the Trarza
Trarza ( ar, ولاية الترارزة) is a region in southwest Mauritania. Its capital is Rosso. Other major cities and towns include Mederdra and Boutilimit. Trarza borders the reg ...
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