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Lake Albert, originally known as Lake Mwitanzige and temporarily Lake Mobutu Sese Seko, is a lake located in
Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...
and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
. It is Africa's seventh-largest lake, as well as the second biggest of Uganda's Great Lakes.


Geography

Lake Albert is located in the center of the African continent, on the border between
Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...
and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
. It is the northernmost of the chain of lakes in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the
East African Rift The East African Rift (EAR) or East African Rift System (EARS) is an active continental rift zone in East Africa. The EAR began developing around the onset of the Miocene, 22–25 million years ago. In the past it was considered to be part of a ...
. It is about long and wide, with a maximum depth of , and a surface elevation of above sea level. Lake Albert is part of the complicated system of the upper
Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered ...
. Its main sources are the
White Nile The White Nile ( ar, النيل الأبيض ') is a river in Africa, one of the two main tributaries of the Nile, the other being the Blue Nile. The name comes from the clay sediment carried in the water that changes the water to a pale color. ...
, ultimately coming from
Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after ...
to the southeast, and the Semliki River, which issues from Lake Edward to the southwest. The water of the Victoria Nile is much less saline than that of Lake Albert. The lake's outlet, at its northernmost tip, is the
Albert Nile The White Nile ( ar, النيل الأبيض ') is a river in Africa, one of the two main tributaries of the Nile, the other being the Blue Nile. The name comes from the clay sediment carried in the water that changes the water to a pale color. ...
section of the White Nile. The river later becomes known as the Mountain Nile when its course enters
South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...
. At the southern end of the lake, where the Semliki comes in, there are
swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...
s. The Rwenzori Mountains are to the south of the lake and to the northwest, the Blue Mountains. The few settlements along the shore include
Butiaba Butiaba, is a town in the Western Region of Uganda. It is a fishing town and landing site on the shores of Lake Albert, in Uganda. Location Butiaba is located on the eastern shores of Lake Albert, in Buliisa District, in the Bunyoro sub-reg ...
and
Pakwach Pakwach is a town in the Northern Region of Uganda. It is the main commercial, political and administrative center of Pakwach District. Location Pakwach is in Pakwach District, West Nile sub-region. It is approximately , by road, east of Nebbi, ...
.


Water characteristics

Unlike the very deep
Lake Malawi Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. It is the fifth largest fre ...
,
Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. ...
and Lake Kivu, Lake Albert's water temperature is relatively stable throughout, typically around , and even its deeper sections contain oxygen. The water has a pH of around or just below 9 and an electric conductivity of around 720–780 μS/cm. These are both very high for a freshwater lake but nevertheless lower than Lake Edward.


Animals

Lake Albert is home to many aquatic and semi-aquatic animals, including the river hippopotamus, Ugandan kob,
red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
as well as
Nile lechwe The Nile lechwe or Mrs Gray's lechwe (''Kobus megaceros'') is an endangered species of antelope found in swamps and grasslands in Sudan and Ethiopia. Description Males are an average of long and tall at the shoulders, and weigh between , whil ...
,
Nile crocodile The Nile crocodile (''Crocodylus niloticus'') is a large crocodilian native to freshwater habitats in Africa, where it is present in 26 countries. It is widely distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa, occurring mostly in the central, eastern ...
,
Nile monitor The Nile monitor (''Varanus niloticus'') is a large member of the monitor family (Varanidae) found throughout most of Sub-Saharan Africa and along the Nile, with invasive populations in North America. The population in West African forests and sa ...
lizard,
African softshell turtle The African softshell turtle or Nile softshell turtle (''Trionyx triunguis'') is a large species of turtle from fresh-water and brackish habitats in Africa (larger parts of East, West and Middle Africa) and the Near East (Israel, Lebanon, Syria ...
, Central African mud turtle, and
Williams' mud turtle Williams' mud turtle (''Pelusios williamsi'') is a species of turtle in the family Pelomedusidae. The species is endemic to Africa. Etymology The specific name, ''williamsi'', is in honor of American herpetologist Ernest E. Williams.Beolens, B ...
. Also present is the giant African bullfrog and the
rock python Rock Python (M'Gula) is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as a member of the Serpent Society. He first appeared in '' Captain America'' vol. 1 # ...
, which can be observed warming themselves on smooth rocks near the water’s edge. A number of terrestrial (but water-loving) snakes, lizards, and amphibians reside at the lake. Water birds are numerous, and include
pink-backed pelican The pink-backed pelican (''Pelecanus rufescens'') is a bird of the pelican family. It is a resident breeder in the swamps and shallow lakes of Africa and southern Arabia; it has also apparently extirpated in Madagascar. Taxonomy The pink-backe ...
,
goliath heron The Goliath heron (''Ardea goliath''), also known as the giant heron, is a very large wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae. It is found in sub-Saharan Africa, with smaller, declining numbers in Southwest and South Asia. Description This i ...
, white-faced whistling duck, African fish eagle, wattled plover, and greater flamingo. Several
stork Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family called Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons an ...
species are commonly seen patrolling the shallow areas; the saddle-billed, yellow-billed, open-billed, Hamerkop (hammerhead), European white, and the rare shoebill storks all frequent the lakeshore and shallows, and roost in surrounding tall trees.


Fish and fishing

There are 55 fish species in Lake Albert. After Nile crocodiles and larger carnivorous birds, the largest predator in the lake is the Nile perch (native; unlike in other
Rift Valley lakes The Rift Valley lakes are a series of lakes in the East African Rift valley that runs through eastern Africa from Ethiopia in the north to Malawi in the south, and includes the African Great Lakes in the south. These include some of the world's ...
where it’s introduced &
invasive Invasive may refer to: *Invasive (medical) procedure *Invasive species *Invasive observation, especially in reference to surveillance *Invasively progressive spread of disease from one organ in the body to another, especially in reference to cancer ...
), as well as the fearsome-looking elongate tigerfish,
African tigerfish ''Hydrocynus'' is a genus of large characin fish in the family Alestidae commonly called "tigerfish," native to the African continent. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek ὕδωρ ("water"Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-Eng ...
, and the
electric catfish Electric catfish or Malapteruridae is a family of catfishes (order Siluriformes). This family includes two genera, '' Malapterurus'' and ''Paradoxoglanis'', with 21 species. Several species of this family have the ability to generate electricity ...
. Additionally, there are a number of air-breathing marbled lungfish,
reedfish The reedfish, ropefish (more commonly used in the United States), or snakefish, ''Erpetoichthys calabaricus'', is a species of fish in the bichir family and order. It is the only member of the genus ''Erpetoichthys''. It is native to fresh and ...
, bichir,
cornish jack The Cornish jack, ''Mormyrops anguilloides'', is a species of weakly electric fish in the family Mormyridae, native to quiet waters in much of Sub-Saharan Africa. The largest species in its family, the Cornish jack is a nocturnal group hunter ...
, ''
Bagrus ''Bagrus'' is a genus of bagrid catfishes. These are relatively large catfish found in freshwater habitats in Africa, except for the virtually unknown ''B. tucumanus'' from South America, which likely is a Synonym (biology), synonym of ''Luciop ...
docmak'',
African sharptooth catfish ''Clarias gariepinus'' or African sharptooth catfish is a species of catfish of the family Clariidae, the airbreathing catfishes. Distribution They are found throughout Africa and the Middle East, and live in freshwater lakes, rivers, and sw ...
and vundu catfish. Other species, that support important local fisheries, include Nile tilapia, Niger barb, Albert lates, and giraffe catfish that are caught by standard fishing methods; the small ''
Brycinus ''Brycinus'' is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Alestiidae. Like other "African characids", they were formerly included in the Characidae but are actually somewhat more distantly related Characiformes. Like some other Alestiidae, they a ...
nurse'' and ''
Engraulicypris bredoi ''Engraulicypris bredoi''Riddin, M.A., Bills, I.R. & Villet, M.H. (2016)Phylogeographic, morphometric and taxonomic re-evaluation of the river sardine, ''Mesobola brevianalis'' (Boulenger, 1908) (Teleostei, Cyprinidae, Chedrini).''ZooKeys, 641: 1 ...
'' are predominantly caught by light fishing. As much as 30% of the fish production in Uganda is from Lake Albert. Lake Albert has fewer
endemics Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
than the other African Great Lakes. Although the Albert Nile–the section of the Nile that leaves Lake Albert—has several rapids in the
Nimule Nimule is a city in the southern part of South Sudan in Magwi County, Eastern Equatoria. It lies approximately , by road, southeast of Juba, the capital of South Sudan and largest city in the country. The town also lies approximately , by road, no ...
region, these have not effectively isolated the lake from the main Nile sections. In contrast, Lake Edward (and ultimately Lake George) is effectively isolated from Lake Albert by the rapids on the Semliki River, while
Lake Kyoga Lake Kyoga (literally 'the place of bathing' in Runyoro language) is a large shallow lake in Uganda, about in area and at an elevation of 1,033 metres. The Victoria Nile flows through the lake on its way from Lake Victoria to Lake Albert. The mai ...
(and ultimately Lake Victoria) is effectively isolated from Lake Albert by the
Murchison Falls Murchison Falls, also known as Kabalega Falls, is a waterfall at the apex of Lake Albert on the Victoria Nile in Uganda. At the top of Murchison Falls, the Nile forces its way through a gap in the rocks, only wide, and tumbles , before flowing ...
on the Victoria Nile. As a consequence, most of Lake Albert's fish are widespread riverine species also found in the main Nile sections. There are few
haplochromine __NOTOC__ The haplochromine cichlids are a tribe of cichlids in subfamily Pseudocrenilabrinae called Haplochromini. This group includes the type genus (''Haplochromis'') plus a number of closely related genera such as '' Aulonocara'', '' Astat ...
cichlids; a group that is very diverse in other Rift Valley lakes. Of the six haplochromines in Lake Albert, four are endemic (''
Haplochromis albertianus ''Haplochromis'' is a ray-finned fish genus in the family Cichlidae. It has been used as the default "wastebin taxon" for Pseudocrenilabrinae cichlids of the East African Rift, and as such became the "largest" fish "genus". Many of these cichlids ...
'', '' H. avium'', '' H. bullatus'' and '' H. mahagiensis'') and two are also found in the Nile ('' H. loati'' and ''
Pseudocrenilabrus multicolor The Egyptian mouthbrooder (''Pseudocrenilabrus multicolor'') is a species of cichlid. This small mouthbrooder reaches about in length, and is found in rivers, lakes, and other freshwater habitats in Eastern Africa from Egypt and as far south as ...
''). In comparison, most of the more than 60 haplochromines in Lake Edward–George and most of the roughly 600 haplochromines in Lake Victoria–Kyoga are endemic. The only other endemic fish species in Lake Albert are the small cyprinid ''Engraulicypris bredoi'' and the endangered Albert lates.


History

Lake Albert is still known as Mwitanzige by the
Banyoro Bunyoro or Bunyoro-Kitara is a Bantu kingdom in Western Uganda. It was one of the most powerful kingdoms in Central and East Africa from the 13th century to the 19th century. It is ruled by the King (''Omukama'') of Bunyoro-Kitara. The current ...
and Batooro, as well as other peoples who have inhabited the region for centuries before the colonial age. This name means ‘locust killer’, from ''omwita'' ‘killer’ and ''enzige'' ‘locusts’ in the Runyoro language. This is due to a local legend that tells how a plague of locusts had destroyed the crops of the people who were living on the eastern shore of the lake, but when they tried to cross to the other side they never got there. Due to the oral nature of Nyoro culture and the lack of writing before British occupation, it is not possible to know for sure whether this tale actually happened. In 1864, the explorers Samuel Baker and Flóra von Sass found the lake and renamed it after the recently deceased
Prince Albert Prince Albert most commonly refers to: *Albert, Prince Consort (1819–1861), consort of Queen Victoria *Albert II, Prince of Monaco (born 1958), present head of state of Monaco Prince Albert may also refer to: Royalty * Albert I of Belgium ...
, consort of
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
. In the 20th century, Zairian President
Mobutu Sese Seko Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997 (known as the Democratic Republic o ...
temporarily named the lake after himself. European colonialists operated shipping on the lake. The British planned shipping on Lake Albert as part of a network of railway, river steamer and lake steamer services linking British interests in Egypt, east Africa and southern Africa. The John I. Thornycroft & Company shipyard at Woolston, Hampshire built the cargo and passenger ship for this purpose in 1930. She was named after the
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
officer Robert Thorne Coryndon, who was governor of Uganda 1918–22.
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
described the ship as ''"the best library afloat"'' and
Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...
called her ''"magnificence on water"''. She either was scuttled in 1962 or sank in 1964. She remains unsalvaged and partly submerged in the lake at Butyaba landing site. These can still be seen to date.
Heritage Oil Heritage Oil is an independent Jersey-based oil and gas exploration and production company. Its activities are focused on Africa, the Middle East and Russia. In June 2014, the company was acquired by a fund owned by the former chief executive of Q ...
and Tullow Oil have announced major oil finds in the Lake Albert basin, with estimates that the multi-billion barrel field will prove to be the largest onshore field found in sub-Saharan Africa for more than twenty years. In March 2014, a boat carrying Congolese refugees capsized in Lake Albert, killing more than 250 people. On 26 December 2016, a boat carrying 45 members and fans of a local village football team capsized in Lake Albert killing at least 30 people. On 24 December
2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...
, thirty people died when a boat capsized in en route from Uganda to Congo. The passengers were concerned about travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa. The
Kibiro Kibiro is a small fishing village in Uganda that lies on the south-eastern shore of Lake Albert The residents of the village are unable to produce their own agricultural products, and must trade with other communities for most of their necessities. ...
settlement on Lake Albert has cultural and archeological significance.


Gallery

Baker-Lake Albert-1861.jpg, Sir
Samuel Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bibl ...
exploring the lake Rivers and lakes of Uganda.png, Rivers and lakes of Uganda Early Ferry, Uganda (15198353996).jpg, Ferry Lake Albert Channel, Uganda (15192094327).jpg, Channel Albert Lake (7068054469).jpg, Giraffe by the lake


See also

* Energy in Uganda


References


External links

*
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United NationsWorld Lakes Database entry for Lake Albert
photos of East African lake ferries including SS ''Robert Coryndon'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Albert African Great Lakes Lakes of the Great Rift Valley Lakes of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Lakes of Uganda Democratic Republic of the Congo–Uganda border Nile International lakes of Africa