Detailed Data Lake Tanganyika

Partner Living Lakes

Biraturaba - Association Sans But Lucratif (Burundi)

Partner Lake since

2011

Origin

tectonic, rift valley lake

Age

2 - 20 Mio. years

one of the 20 ancient lakes on Earth

State of protection

Protected areas around the lake

• Gombe Stream National Park and
• Mahale Mountains National Park (Tanzania),
• Rusizi Natural Reserve (Burundi, which is also a Ramsar Site), and
• Nsumbu National Park (Zambia)

Size

32,900 sq. km [km²]

Length, width

673 km (north / south), 16 - 72 km (west / east)

world’s longest lake

Water volume

18,900 cubic km [km³]

world’s second largest freshwater lake by volume

contains 17 % of the world´s surface freshwater

Maximum depth

1,470 m

second deepest lake in the world, after Lake Baikal

Average depth

570 m

Sea level

773 m

Catchment area

231,000 sq. km [km²]

In-flows

3 major in-flows

Largest in-flows

Ruzizi River, Malagarasi River, Kalambo River

Out-flows

1 (Lukuga River)

Islands

?

Salinity

fresh water

Precipitation

 % of water entering the lake

Evaporation

 % of water leaving the lake

Mean water temperature

25 °C

Average pH value

8.4

Completely frozen over

never

Location

Tanzania, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Zambia

Shore line

31 % sand beach
43 % rock
21 % sand beach and rock
  5 % wetland

Vegetation

 % woody and herbaceous vegetation,

 % agricultural land

Fish

250 cichlid fish species (98 % endemic),

75 non-cichlid fish species (60 % endemic)

Invertebrates

68 snail species (45 endemic),

15 bivalve species (8 endemic),

200 crustacean species (100 endemic),

10 crab species (all endemic),

11 species of small shrimp,

28 annelids species (17 endemic),

20 nematodes species (7 endemic),

20 species of leeches (12 endemic),

11 flatworm species (7 endemic),

9 sponge species (7 endemic),

6 bryozoa species (2 endemic)

Inhabitants in the lake area

1 million people at the shoreline,

10 million people in the catchment area

Biggest problems

• overfishing (combined with the use of destructive fishing gears),
• industrial pollution (breweries, abattoirs, battery manufacturers), 
• unsustainable agricultural practices,
• deforestation,
• invasive species, and
• effects of the global climate change