The African Great Lakes

If you are from Canada or the United States, when you hear "Great Lakes,"  you probably think of these five bodies of water:

The Great Lakes of North America

North America is not the only continent to have Great Lakes; Africa has its own great lakes. Exactly which of the East African Lakes are considered Great Lakes is a bit subjective, but I've labeled the most commonly referred to ones on the zoomed in map below. The African Great Lakes, as well as the smaller lakes found in East Africa are part of the East African Rift System, which will I'll write about in later posts.

The African Great Lakes

The Great Lakes

Some facts about the African Great Lakes:

• Lake Victoria is the second largest continental lake in the world by surface area (after Lake Superior)
• Lake Tanganyika is the second deepest continental lake in the world (after Lake Baikal)
• Lake Tanganyika is the second largest continental lake by water volume in the world (after Lake Baikal)
• Lake Malawi has more species of fish than any other freshwater lake
• Lake Tanganyika is the longest lake in the world

All maps created using http://www.geomapapp.org/