Lake Albert (Africa)

Lake Albert, originally known asLake Mwitanzigeby theBanyoro,Nam Ovoyo Bonyoby theAlur, and temporarily asLake Mobutu Sese Seko, is a lake located inUgandaand theDemocratic Republic of the Congo. It is Africa's seventh-largest lake, as well as the second biggest of Uganda's Great Lakes.
Lake Albert is located on the border betweenUgandaand theDemocratic Republic of the Congo. It is the northernmost of the chain of lakes in theAlbertine Rift, the western branch of theEast African Rift.
It is about 160 kilometres (99 mi) long and 30 kilometres (19 mi) across at its widest, with a maximum depth of 51 metres (167 ft), and a surface elevation of 619 metres (2,031 ft) above sea level.
Lake Albert is part of the complicated system of the upperNile. Its main sources are theWhite Nile, ultimately coming fromLake Victoriato the southeast, and theSemliki River, which issues fromLake Edwardto 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 theAlbert Nilesection of the White Nile. The river later becomes known as theMountain Nilewhen its course entersSouth Sudan.
At the southern end of the lake, where the Semliki comes in, there areswamps. TheRwenzori Mountainsare to the south of the lake and to the northwest, theBlue Mountains. The few settlements along the shore includeButiabaandPakwach.
Unlike the very deepLake Malawi,Lake TanganyikaandLake Kivu, Lake Albert's water temperature is relatively stable throughout, typically around 27–29 °C (81–84 °F), and even its deeper sections contain oxygen.
The water has apHof around or just below 9 and anelectric conductivityof around 720–780 μS/cm. These are both very high for a freshwater lake but nevertheless lower than Lake Edward.
Lake Albert is home to many aquatic and semi-aquatic animals likehippopotamuses,Uganda kobantelopes,Nile crocodiles,Nile monitors,African softshell turtles,Central African mud turtles,Williams' mud turtles, various semi-aquatic snakes and various frogs.Water birds are numerous and includepelicans,heronsand the rareshoebill.
There are 55 fish species in Lake Albert.Except for Nile crocodiles, the largest predator in the lake is theNile perch(native; unlike in otherRift Valley lakeswhere introduced andinvasive). Other large predatory fish include theelongate tigerfish,African tigerfish,marbled lungfish,cornish jack,Bagrusdocmak,African sharptooth catfishandvunducatfish.In addition, there are important fisheries for theNile tilapia,Niger barb,Albert lates,electric catfishandgiraffe catfishthat are caught by standard fishing methods,and the smallBrycinusnurseandEngraulicypris bredoithat mainly are caught bylight fishing.As much as 30% of the fish production in Uganda is from Lake Albert.
Lake Albert has fewerendemicsthan the otherAfrican Great Lakes.Although the Albert Nile–the section of the Nile that leaves Lake Albert—has several rapids in theNimuleregion,these have not effectively isolated the lake from the main Nile sections.In contrast, Lake Edward (and ultimatelyLake George) is effectively isolated from Lake Albert by the rapids on the Semliki River, whileLake Kyoga(and ultimately Lake Victoria) is effectively isolated from Lake Albert by theMurchison Fallson 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 fewhaplochrominecichlids; a group that is very diverse in other Rift Valley lakes. Of the six haplochromines in Lake Albert, four are endemic (Haplochromis albertianus,H. avium,H. bullatusandH. mahagiensis) and two are also found in the Nile (H. loatiandPseudocrenilabrus multicolor). 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 cyprinidEngraulicypris bredoiand the endangered Albert lates.
Lake Albert is still known asMwitanzigeby theBanyoroandBatooro, andNam Ovoyo Bonyoby theAluras well as other peoples who have inhabited the region for centuries before thecolonial age.  This name means ‘locust killer’, fromomwita‘killer’ andenzige‘locusts’ in theRunyorolanguage, and 'The Lake that has defeated the locusts' in theAlurlanguage, fromNam, 'Lake',Ovoyo, 'has defeated',Bonyo, 'Locusts'. 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.
In 1864, the explorersSamuel BakerandFlóra von Sassfound the lakeand renamed it after the recently deceasedPrince Albert, consort ofQueen Victoria. In the 20th century,Zairian PresidentMobutu Sese Sekotemporarily 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. TheJohn I. Thornycroft & Companyshipyard atWoolston, Hampshirebuilt the cargo and passenger shipSSRobert Coryndonfor this purpose in 1930.She was named after theBritish Armyofficer Robert Thorne Coryndon, who was governor of Uganda 1918–22.Winston Churchilldescribed the ship as"the best library afloat"andErnest Hemingwaycalled her"magnificence on water".She either was scuttled in 1962or sank in 1964.She remains unsalvaged and partly submerged in the lakeat Butyaba landing site. These can still be seen to date.
Heritage OilandTullow Oilhave 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 refugeescapsized 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, thirty people died when a boat capsized en route from Uganda to Congo. The passengers were concerned about travel restrictions related to theCOVID-19 pandemic in Africa.
TheKibirosettlement on Lake Albert has cultural and archeological significance.
Category: Lake Albert (Africa)