Lake Jipe is an inter-territorial lake straddling the borders of

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

and

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

. On the Kenyan side, it is located south of the village of Nghonji while on the Tanzanian side, it is situated within

Mwanga District Mwanga is one of the seven districts of the Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania. The district covers an area of , It is bordered to the northeast by Kenya, to the northwest by the Moshi Rural District, to the southwest by Simanjiro District of Manyar ...

, in

Kilimanjaro Region Kilimanjaro Region (''Mkoa wa Kilimanjaro'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The regional capital and largest city is the municipality of Moshi. With a HDI of 0.613, Kilimajaro is one among the most developed region ...

. The lake is fed mainly by the Lumi River, which descends from Mount Kilimanjaro, as well as streams from the North

Pare Mountains The Pare Mountains are a mountain range in northeastern Tanzania, located north of the Usambara Mountains. The mountains are administratively located in the Kilimanjaro Region, specifically in the Mwanga District and Same District. The North an ...

, being on the leeward side. The lake's outlet forms the Ruvu River. Kenya's unfenced

Tsavo West National Park Tsavo West National Park is located in the Coast Province of Kenya. The park covers an area of 9,065 square kilometres. The A109 road Nairobi-Mombasa and a railway divides it from the adjoining Tsavo East National Park. Together with adjoini ...

protects part of the lake's northern shore, while on the Tanzania side Mkomazi Game Reserve is nearby. The lake is known for its

endemic 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 ...

fish, as well as water birds, mammals, wetland plants and lake-edge swamps, which can extend from Jipe's shore.

Geography

The lake is accessible from the Tanzanian side via the B1 Highway from the village of ''Kifaru'', about south of the

capital of Moshi. Jipe covers an area of roughly , and measures approximately long by broad. Jipe is a shallow backwater of the Lumi river, which afterwards becomes the Ruvu River, and enters in the Nyumba ya Mungu Reservoir. After joining there with the ''Kikuletwa'' the stream flows as

Pangani River The Pangani River (pin-gi'nee) (also called Luffu and Jipe Ruvu, especially in older sources, and probably once called Rhaptus) is a major river of northeastern Tanzania. It has two main sources: the Ruvu, which rises as Lumi at Kilimanjaro, pa ...

in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

Pangani Pangani Town is a historic Swahili settlement located on the south eastern shore of Tanga Region, Tanzania. The town lies south of the city of Tanga, at the mouth of the Pangani River. It is the headquarters of the Pangani District. Admini ...

. The lake lacks a current as the river that flows in, turns round and flows out again. Its water is only drinkable after it has been well boiled and skimmed. On its southern bank, the mountains of Ugweno rise , contrasting markedly with the opposite shore, which is a flat plain, but little raised above the lake. Mount Kilimanjaro's Kibo Peak is viewable from the lake.

Demographics

Some 120,000 people depend on the lake for their livelihood. The inhabitants of villages surrounding Lake Jipe are mainly involved in fishing, agriculture and animal husbandry. To the south-east of the great mountain is the little agricultural colony of Taveta. Ki-taveta is the language used by the Bantu half of the population, and Maasai is the language of the remainder. Ki-gweno is the dialect of the northernmost area of the

known as Ugweno (''Vughonu'' to its inhabitants) to the south of Lake Jipe. Lake water is used for irrigation of the surrounding farmlands.

Fauna

The probability of long-time isolation from other wetlands is suggested by a fish endemic to the lake, the Jipe tilapia. Jipe's waters are teeming with big fish, principally siluriforms and cyprinoids. Jipe forms a biodiversity rich ecosystem also known for the water birds that frequent its reedy shores; these include storks, egrets, pelicans, spur-winged plovers, ducks, and Egyptian geese. Lesser jacana and the

African swamphen The African swamphen (''Porphyrio madagascariensis'') is a species of swamphen occurring in Egypt, Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasik ...

are common on the lake and Madagascar squacco heron, black heron,

African darter The African darter (''Anhinga rufa''), sometimes called the snakebird, is a water bird of sub-Saharan Africa and Iraq. Taxonomy The African darter is a member of the darter family, Anhingidae, and is closely related to American (''Anhinga anh ...

and African skimmers are often seen. The vicinity of the lake is frequented by herds of game.

Hippopotami The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extan ...

and

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, ...

s are plentiful.

References

External links

Dangerous, beautiful lake astride Kenya-Tanzania border
{{Lakes of Tanzania Jipe Jipe Pangani basin Geography of Kilimanjaro Region Coast Province