The Uganda Atlas

NEMA 2008

Lake Bunyonyi, in Kabale District, Western Uganda (2008)

The streak nature of the lake gives it a long shoreline relative to its size, with a circumference of 186 km (Langlands 1974). The lake gradient is tilted towards north-west, in accordance with the orientation of the former main valley, and the water in the lake is held back by a small band of lava flow near Muko. Water from the lake escapes through a breach in this lava band in form of a mini-rapid, and marks the beginning of a river

flowing through the formerly vast and deep Iyamuriro wetland system into the Ruhuuma and from there through a narrow valley across the Kabale-Kisoro border into lake Mutanda in Kisoro District. Because of its great depth and narrow shores, and due to characteristically low temperatures of the highland region, the lake productivity in terms of fish is low.

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