Lake Sélingué is a 409 km²

artificial lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

Sikasso Region Sikasso Region (Bambara language, Bambara: ߛߌߞߊߛߏ ߘߌߣߋߖߊ tr. Sikaso Dineja) is the southernmost region of Mali. The region's capital city, Sikasso, is the country's second-largest city. Major ethnic groups include the Senoufo, known fo ...

, formed by the Sélingué Hydroelectric dam on the Sankarani River. Its southwestern arm forms part of the border with

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

. Lake Sélingué, rising and falling in the rainy and dry seasons, allows

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

on the irrigated perimeters, managed by the Office of Rural Development of Sélingué, as well as fishing. Since its creation, numerous communities have grown along the lake, the two largest being the towns of

La Carrière LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smit ...

and Faraba. Fishing the lake provides employment for more than 8,000 people in its various fishing communities, with an annual catch of around 4,000 tonnes. Most fish available in

Bamako Bamako is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2022 population of 4,227,569. It is located on the Niger River, near the rapids that divide the upper and middle Niger valleys in the southwestern part of the country. Bamak ...

come from Lake Sélingué.Knaap, M. van der. Status of fish stocks and fisheries of thirteen medium-sized African reservoirs. CIFA Technical Paper. No. 26. Rome, FAO. 1994. 107p. Lake-Selingue-NASA-Worldwind

Sélingué is Mali's second largest artificial lake (

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

) after

Lake Manantali Lake Manantali is a large artificial lake, formed by the 1989 construction of the Manantali Dam, on the Bafing River in Mali. Its northern point is located 90 km to the south-east of the city of Bafoulabé. Size Lake Manantali covers 477 ...

, created by the construction of the

Manantali dam The Manantali Dam ( French: ''Barrage de Manantali'') is a multi-purpose dam on the Bafing river in the Senegal River basin, to the south-east of Bafoulabé, in Mali's Kayes Region. History Early planning for the dam began in 1972 when the Orga ...

in 1988.

References

*Portions of this article were translated from the French language Wikipedia article :fr:Lac de Sélingué, 2008-03-06.
FAO report on Selingue dam
*

* ttp://www.grdc.sr.unh.edu/html/Polygons/P1134050.html UNH-GRDC Composite Runoff Fields Data V1.0 1964–1990. Inflow to Lake Sélingué from the Sankarani River. *P. Morand, IRD, SFLP consultant and C. Breuil, RSU Planning Officer, SFLP
Fisheries in Sélingué: towards a participatory management which is better integrated into local development. Sustainable Fisheries Livelihood Program
Number 8.
Arfi, R. Ecological changes and water level variation in Sélingué Reservoir (Mali)
EGS - AGU - EUG Joint Assembly, Abstracts from the meeting held in Nice, France, 6–11 April 2003, abstract #1768. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lake Selingue Selingue Guinea–Mali border Selingue Bodies of water of Guinea