LAKE VICTORIA BASIN

Lake Victoria is located in East Africa. The Lake drains areas within Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania, as shown in Figure 1.1. The Basin is linked to the Nile River Basin through the White Nile (Abtew and Melesse 2014) and contributes much of the headwaters of Africa’s longest River. The basin

The largest portion of the Lake Victoria Basin (LVB) is in Tanzania – 44 per cent (85,448 km 2 ) of the Basin’s drainage area; while Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi make up 22 per cent (42,724 km 2 ), 16 per cent (31,072 km 2 ), 11 per cent (21,362 km 2 ) and 7 per cent (13,594 km 2 ), respectively (Lake Victoria Basin Commission 2007a).

Table 1.1: Lake Victoria surface area, catchment area and shoreline statistics

Lake surface area

Catchment area

Lake shoreline length

% 16 51 33

% 22 16 44 07 11 100

% 6 43 51

Km 2 42,724 31,072 85,448 13,594 21,362 194,200

Km 550

Country Kenya Uganda Tanzania Burundi Rwanda Total

Km 2 4,128

1,750 1,150 0 0 3,450

29,584 35,088 0 0 68,800

0 0 100

0 0 100

Source: Lake Victoria Basin Commission 2002

Lake Victoria Basin

M o n t s B l e u s

Lira

Lake Albert

KENYA

Lake Kyoga Victoria Nile

B u g a n d a

Kitale

DEMOCRATIC REPUBIC OF THE CONGO

Mbale

Lake Baringo

UGANDA

l e y

Eldoret

Jinja

Kampala

Kakamega

R u w e n z o r i

R i f t V a l

Lake Wamala

Lake Bogoria

Katonga

Kisumu

Nzola

Lake George

Entebbe

Nakuru

Lake Edward

Lake Kachira

Sondu

Mbarara

Lake Kyanebalola

Lake Victoria

Lake Naivasha

V i r u n g a

Kagera

Nairobi

Bukoba

Lake Ikimba

Musoma

Ruhengeri

Mara

RWANDA

Lake Kivu

Gitarama

Altitude

Kigali

Kibungo

Kibuye

5 000 m

Lake Burigi

Mbalageti

Mwanza

4 000

Butare

3 000

Simiyu

Ngozi

Lake Victoria basin

BURUNDI

2 000

Secondary river systems

Gitega

Bujumbura

1 500

Tertiary river systems

1 000

Capitals Other cities Main road Major settlements

100 km

TANZANIA

500

Lake Tangayika

More than 25 000 inhabitants

200

Copyright©2016GRID-Arendal ·Cartografare ilpresente/NievesLópez Izquierdo

Figure 1.1: The Lake Victoria Basin

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