LAKE TANGANYIKA: ORIGIN, LOCATION, RIVERS, FLORA, FAUNA - GEOGRAPHY - 2025

The Lake Tanganyika, also known as Tanganyika, is a body of water found on the African continent, specifically in the central area. The extension of this lake is considerable, so much so that it has established itself as the second with the largest amount of water in the world.

In addition, the lake is characterized as the oldest ecosystem of this type in African lands. Several rivers converge with this lake, which in turn is of great importance to nations such as Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and the Republic of Zambia.

NASA, via Wikimedia Commons.

Tanganyika has drawn attention in recent years for the serious pollution that can be noticed in its waters. For a long time it was had the idea that overfishing was one of the activities with the greatest negative impact on this lake, but there have been different investigations that point to global warming.

For people in local areas, the way to refer to the lake is as Tanganyika. According to etymological studies, the name means that it is a large lake that expands like a plain or simply a flat lake.

Geological origin

The study of Lake Tanganyika has made it possible to determine that its formation has occurred over many years and in a somewhat complicated way. All this has been possible to determine thanks to the changes in the direction of the currents, at the altitude present in different areas since it is a body of water that has a considerable depth.

It is also important to know that, despite having several rivers that flow into its waters, the amount of water that reaches the lake is not very high. The changes in the characteristics of the lake have been due to its location. Tanganyika is surrounded by mountains and the presence of volcanic areas has caused changes especially in the climate.

It is believed that in the past this lake had an outlet to the sea, although this is not a common element in these ecosystems. When this happened it is because the amount of water in the lake was large and caused flooding, especially with a channel directed towards the Congo.

Tanganyika is a lake that depends largely on the contribution of rivers to maintain its flow. In this sense, the role of the Niemba River is of great importance.

The temperatures and location of the lake have had a great impact on the level of evaporation that has occurred for many years.

The entry of water through the Ruzizi River, despite its short length, is also very relevant for Tanganyika. This is a river whose mouth is just over 10,000 years old in the lake. The formation and the route were given by the lava flows that were changing the composition of the place.

Your birth

There are some geological marks that indicate that Lake Tanganyika originally may have been shallower than it is today. The difference in some areas can be 300 meters.

It is believed that when Europeans first discovered the lake they found no outlet to the sea. This happened in the middle of the 19th century. But not only the mouth has changed, it is also believed that the entry of water could come from other areas.

According to geologists, Lake Tanganyika once had a connection with Lake Malawi and the Nile. It currently has three basins, which are depressions that are found between mountainous areas. At some point, these three basins could be considered different lakes, mainly because their formation dates from different times.

The central area of ​​Lake Tanganyika may have been the first to form more than 10 million years ago. Then the configuration of the area to the north occurred with more than 7 million years old. While the south had the latest formation, possibly between 2 and 4 million.

Historical facts

In the history of the African continent there are several events that occurred in Lake Tanganyika. To begin with, the first time Europeans discovered this ecosystem, at least according to the records, was in the mid-19th century. The objective of the expedition, made up of British, was really to find the River Nile.

In Lake Tanganyika there were also episodes of great tension during the First World War. There they faced representatives of the navy of England, Belgium and Germany between December of 1915 and July of the following year.

The military objective at that time was to control Tanganyika because it had great relevance at the strategic level. At first it was dominated by the Germans, then the English arrived, who after several battles took control of the lake together with the Belgians.

During the First World War, several German soldiers (none French or Belgian) died in the lake, several boats sank and some members of the Imperial German Navy were arrested.

Che Guevara

One of the most popular characters in world history was the Argentine Ernesto Che Guevara, who also had a link with Lake Tanganyika. The revolutionary arrived in Tanzania in the middle of the 20th century.

On the banks of the Tanganyika, the Argentine trained an army to overthrow the Congolese government, but it was not enough. The lake also served as Guevara's attempt to flee after his failed attempt in Africa.

Location

The easiest way to locate the Tanganyika is to point to the Great Rift Valley, an area nearly five thousand kilometers in area. It is obviously located on the African continent, although it has been officially determined that it is in the eastern part.

More than 40% of the lake's surface is in the territory of Tanzania. The remainder is divided between Burundi, Zambia and the Democratic Congo.

Regulation organism

This lake is closely monitored by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR). This is an organization that was born in 2000 as a request of the United Nations Security Council for a way to regulate and monitor the development of the region.

The countries of Angola, Burundi, the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Congo, Kenya, Sudan, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia and Uganda are part of the international organization. In addition, they have the support of several European countries as allies and nations such as the United States, Japan and China.

This organism is of great importance because Lake Tanganyika has a very significant impact on nearby countries. It is one of the main ways to manage imports and exports to the region.

Cities covered

The lake is estimated to be about 700 kilometers long. It is narrow and runs from the north to the south of the region. It borders four different countries, mainly Tanzania, but there is also Burundi further north, the Democratic Congo to the west and Zambia to the south.

The lake is part of several cities including Bujumbura, which is the capital and largest city of Burundi. On the part of Tanzania is the city of Kigoma and Mahale. Zambia is represented by the city of Mpulungu and the Democratic Republic of the Congo by Kalemie.

All cities are easily accessible thanks to a ferry route.

Cities like Bujumbura, Kigoma and Kalemie are among the best communicated with the rest of the region. They have their own airports and train stations to different areas. Although Kigoma has been characterized as a zone of certain danger.

Rivers flowing into Tanganyika

There are several rivers that converge with Lake Tanganyika affecting its flow. The two most important are the Ruzizi River which, despite being very short, joins Lake Kivu with Lake Tanganyika. Then there is the Malagarasi river which is found in Burundi and Tanzania.

Both rivers have influence in different areas of the lake. The Ruzizi River, for example, is an important tributary in the northern region, while Malagarasi operates in the eastern region. The latter has even been determined to be older than Tanganyika.

Then there are other ecosystems such as the Kalambo, Ifume or Lufubu rivers, although with less impact on the lake.

Flora

The miombo vegetation is the most common in the Lake Tanganyika area. It consists of wooded areas that occupy almost a third of the nearby land.

There are some areas that have been designated as national parks and others in which hunting is a very common activity. There are reed beds, closed forests and trees that tolerate high concentrations of salt.

Along the Tanganyika you can get a lot of wild vegetation and trees of different fruits such as tamarinds or dates. It is a very important wood production area due to the presence of mahogany and acacia.

Fauna

One of the most interesting aspects in the vicinity of Lake Tanganyika is the great variety of species that make up its fauna. Elephants, hippos, rhinos, zebras, crocodiles, are just some of the animals that are part of this ecosystem.

Depending on the characteristics of each area, it is more common to find certain types of species. For example, in swamp areas it is normal to see pythons. In the eastern part of the lake is the Gombe Stream National Park, where chimpanzees are very characteristic.

It is estimated that there are almost a thousand different species of fish in this area, many of them cannot even be found in other regions of the planet.

Contamination

One of the main problems that is being experienced in Lake Tanganyika has to do with the increase in temperatures. The lake's water has suffered variations in its surface temperature for thousands of years.

The problem with this is that the Tanganyika ecosystem has been the most affected by climate change, since the surface area is where most of the known species in the lake live. The increase in temperature causes a decrease in the amount of nutrients that reach the species found there.

In addition, as is normal, it is also an ecosystem that has been affected by the economic activities carried out by human beings.

The work carried out by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (CIRGL) has been vital, especially since it is a lake that benefits more than 10 million people.

References

1. Axelrod, H. and Burgess, W. (1993). African cichlids of Lakes Malawi and Tanganyika. Neptune City, NJ: TFH Publications.
2. Brichard, P. (1989). Pierre Brichard's book of cichlids and all the other fishes of Lake Tanganyika. Neptune City, NJ: TFH
3. Burton, R. and Richards, C. (1965). Burton and Lake Tanganyika. Dar es Salaam: East African Literature Bureau.
4. Burton, R. (2004). The Lake Regions of Central Africa. Crabtree: Narrative Press, the.
5. Coulter, G. and Tiercelin, J. (1991). Lake Tanganyika and its life. Natural History Museum Publications.