Size: Lake Victoria's surface area is about 70,000 km2 surface. Location: Northwest Tanzania also bordering Western Kenya and Southern Uganda.   Lake Victoria or Victoria Nyanza is one of the African Great Lakes. The lake was named after Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, by John Hanning Speke, the first European to visit this lake.   Covering a surface area of 68,800 square kilometres (26,600 sq miles), Lake Victoria is Africa’s largest lake by area, and it is the largest tropical lake in the world. It is the world's second largest freshwater lake by surface area after Lake Superior in North America.  In terms of its water volume, Lake Victoria is the world's eighth largest continental lake, and it carries about 2,750 cubic kilometres (2.2 billion acre-feet) of water.     View Larger Map

 

 

Lake Victoria receives most of its water from direct precipitation or from thousands of small streams. The largest stream flowing into this lake is the Kagera River, the mouth of which lies on the lake's western shore. The only river to leave the lake, the White Nile (known as the "Victoria Nile" as it leaves the lake), flows out at Jinja, Uganda, on the lake's north shore.

Lake Victoria occupies a shallow depression in the East African Plateau, between the two arms of the Great Rift Valley, and has a maximum depth of 84 meters and an average depth of 20 meters. Its catchments area covers 184,000 square kilometres. The lake has a shoreline of 4,828 kilometres, with islands constituting 3.7% of this length, (45% or 31,000 km2) and Tanzania (49% or 33,700 km2).

The ecosystem of Lake Victoria and its surroundings have been badly affected by human influence. In 1954, the Nile Perch was introduced in an attempt to improve fishery yields of Lake Victoria fish stocks. By the mid-1980s, the perch underwent a massive population expansion and came to dominate the fish community and ecology of the lake. The Nile Perch proved ecologically and socio economically devastating. Together with pollution born of deforestation and overpopulation, it has brought about a massive transformation in the lake's ecosystem and to the disappearance of hundreds of endemic cichlid species.

Wildlife
The lake is a biological hotspot with great biodiversity of Lake Victoria fish. There many different marine species such as turtles, crocodiles, hippos and eels. A number of indigenous mammal species - velvet monkey, genet and mongoose - share their protected habitat with introduced species such as chimpanzee, black-and-white colobus, elephant and giraffe, all of which benefit from the lake's ecosystem. Lake Victoria is also ideal for bird watching as it attracts a variety of large water birds. Flocks of African grey parrots, zure brilliance of a malachite kingfisher, herons, storks and spoonbills proliferate in the swampy lake fringes, supplemented by thousands of Eurasian migrants during the northern winter.

How To Get There
From Tanzania: Scheduled flights from Arusha, Lake Manyara, Serengeti and Dar year round and by charter flights. It can also be reached by road from these destinations, ideally from Arusha and the Serengeti. The Kenyan side can be accessed by road from Nairobi (5 hrs drive) or via daily scheduled flights to the Lake side city of Kisumu. On the Ugandan side it can be accessed via a flights into Entebe.
What To Do (Activities)
Walking safaris, boat excursions, sport fishing, and canoe trips. You might find that lodges in the Serengeti offer day trips or fishing expeditions to Lake Victoria but it has never really featured on the Tanzanian tourism circuit. Rubondo Island - located in the southern part of the lake - is the only major highlight of a visit to this area.
When To Go
Lake Victoria is accessible year round during the Dry season, June-August and the Wet season November-March.
Accommodation
Tanzania: Standard and luxury tented camps in the Serengeti, park bandas and campsites.

Kenya: Kisumu City has all ranges of accommodation available.

Uganda: Accommodation in hotels in Jinja