Lake Rukwa

Lake Rukwa
Lake Rukwa, as seen from space.
Location	southwestern Tanzania
Coordinates	8°00′S 32°25′E / 8.000°S 32.417°E / -8.000; 32.417Coordinates: 8°00′S 32°25′E / 8.000°S 32.417°E / -8.000; 32.417
Type	alkaline
Basin countries	Tanzania
Surface elevation	800 metres (2,600 ft)

Lake Rukwa is an endorheic lake in the Rukwa Valley of southwestern Tanzania. The alkaline Lake Rukwa lies midway between Lake Tanganyika and Lake Nyasa at an elevation of about 800 metres (2,600 ft), in a parallel branch of the rift system. Almost half of the lake lies in Uwanda Game Reserve.

The lake has seen large fluctuations in its size over the years, due to varying inflow of streams. Currently it is about 180 kilometres (110 mi) long and averages about 32 kilometres (20 mi) wide, making it about 5,760 square kilometres (2,220 sq mi) in size. In 1929 it was only about 48 kilometres (30 mi) long, but in 1939 it was about 128 kilometres (80 mi) long and 40 kilometres (25 mi) wide. The lake may at times have been even higher and linked Lake Tanganyika with Lake Malawi; ancient shorelines suggest a final date of overflow into Tanganyika of 33,000BP.

In 2016, an estimated 1.53 billion cubic meters (54.2 billion standard cubic feet) volume of Helium Gas was discovered in Lake Rukwa worth $3.5 billion.