African Great Lakes region
The African Great Lakes (Swahili: Maziwa Makuu) are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. They include Lake Victoria, the second-largest fresh water lake in the world by area, and Lake Tanganyika, the world's second-largest freshwater lake by volume and depth. Collectively, they contain 31,000 km3 (7400 cu mi) of water, which is more than either Lake Baikal or the North American Great Lakes. This total constitutes about 25% of the planet's unfrozen surface fresh water.
The large rift lakes of Africa are the ancient home of great biodiversity; 10% of the world's fish species live there.
Countries in the African Great Lakes region (sometimes also called Greater Lakes region) include Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. A conference will be held on the lakes region in 2017 in Uganda.
The Great Lakes area, where colonial era borders cut through ethnic groups, has in the last 20 years been a crucible of conflict that has launched multiple uprisings and invasions. The United Nations, the United States, and several European countries have special envoys or representatives to the Great Lakes region.
The African Great Lakes are divided among three different drainage/catchments river basins. Another number also have Endorheic basin systems, such as Lake Turkana. In order of size from largest to smallest, the following are included on most lists of the African Great Lakes:
Some include only Lake Victoria, Lake Albert, and Lake Edward, because they are the only three that empty into the White Nile. Lake Kyoga is part of the Great Lakes system. However, it is not itself considered a Great Lake, based on size alone. Lake Tanganyika and Lake Kivu both empty into the Congo River system, while Lake Malawi is drained by the Shire River into the Zambezi. Lake Turkana has no outlet.
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