Lake Victoria is the Africa’s largest lake, and also the largest tropical lake in the world. It has a vast surface area of 68,888 km2 and its clear waters can’t fail to take your breath away. Multiple impressive reefs and archipelagos lie beneath the surface and play host to more than 200 species of fish.
Spanning such an extensive area, Lake Victoria’s shores vary dramatically from looming precipices to papyrus and ambatch swamps, to coastal flats in the north. The largest island in the lake is Ukerewe, with its wooded hills rising 200 m above the lake. At the lake’s northwestern corner you can discover a pocket of particularly striking beauty in the form of the 62 islands of the Sese archipelago.
Lake Victoria was first sighted by the British explorer John Hanning Speke in 1858, while searching for the source of the Nile, and was named in honor of the Queen of England. The Owen Falls Dam (now the Nalubaale Dam) was completed in 1954 in an attempt to raise the water level and preserve this great reservoir, and now provides valuable hydroelectric power. A second dam, Kiira, was later constructed and began producing hydroelectric power in 2000. Today, local steamers operate around the lake to serve one of the most densely populated regions in the whole of Africa.