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The Lake
Rukwa was first visited by British explorer John Hanning Speke and
followed by the noted Scottish geologist and explorer Joseph
Thomson, who sow it from a distance in 1880. It is the forth
largest lake in Tanzania located on the south-western regions of
Rukwa and Mbeya. It is within the Great Rift Valley system of which
Lake Nyasa is a part.
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It covers an area of about 2650
square kilometers between
Lake Tanganyika and
Nyasa (see the Map) with average
depth of 3 to 5 meters.
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The shallow alkaline lake is
cyclical in nature in terms of size which caused by the varying
inflow of streams, for example, in some years in the past the lake
shrank to a length of about 50 kilometers, years later it expanded
to 135 kilometres long. However, Lake Rukwa has a large drainage
basin in
Tanzania with an area of 81,000 square kilometers. The lake
does not have outflow. Rivers that are flowing in are Rungwa, Wuku,
Lukwate, Kikambo, Luika, Luiche, Kavuu, Chambua, and Songwe.
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The lake is rich in wildlife,
largest concentration of crocodiles and hippopotamus, more than
half of it lies within
Newly Extended Katavi National Park
. There are more than 350 species
of birds listed in Lake Rukwa and its surroundings. large numbers of
water birds: including African skimmer, glossy ibis, lesser
flamingo, spur-winged goose, and white pelican; The papyrus swamps
are home to the rare shoebill stork and the Tanzania masked weaver
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Apiculture
The abundance of
the ‘miombo’ type of vegetation in the Lake Rukwa region
creates favorable conditions for beekeeping at a commercial scale
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