Lake Victoria

Named by the explorer John Speke, after the Queen at the time, Lake Victoria is the world’s second largest freshwater lake. With shores into Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and a surface area of just under 70,000 square kilometres, Lake Victoria is actually remarkably shallow. The lake’s maximum depth is 85 metres with an average depth of only 20. It holds remarkable quantities of fish which sustain the numerous villages and towns that surround its shores.

Keen fishermen flock here to try and catch the massive Nile perch and there are a number of islands on the lake with research centres for chimpanzees or small wildlife sanctuaries. We tend to send very few people to Lake Victoria, as many people find the lake something of a let down! However, Ngamba in Uganda, Rubondo in Tanzania and Mfangano in Kenya do take a scattering of tourists.