Lake · Uganda, DR Congo
Lake Albert
Lake Albert lies in the heart of Africa, right on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Nile flows into the lake and out again, so the lake is part of the Nile's journey north.
Picture credit: Ndalilo koli (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Macholi (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Macholi (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Lake Albert?
Countries on its shores: Uganda, DR Congo.
Middle of the lake: 1.68° N, 30.92° E
The story behind it
Lake Albert stretches about 160 km through a long valley, with the Rwenzori Mountains rising to the south and the Blue Mountains to the north-west. In 1864 the explorers Samuel Baker and Flóra von Sass reached its shore while searching for the source of the Nile. They named the lake after Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria. Long before that, local people called it Mwitanzige, which means 'locust killer'. Two rivers feed the lake: the Semliki from the south and the Victoria Nile at the northern end. The water leaves again as the Albert Nile. Hippos, Nile crocodiles, pelicans and herons live here, and with luck you can spot the rare shoebill. Up to 55 kinds of fish swim in the lake, and fishers in their boats catch up to 30 per cent of all the fish from Uganda here.
Find it on the globe
Lake Albert is there as a small blue dot with its name, right on the water. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
How big is Lake Albert?
Lake Albert covers about 5 300 km², although some sources give up to 5 600 km². It is about 160 km long and up to 30 km wide.
Who gave Lake Albert its name?
The explorers Samuel Baker and Flóra von Sass reached the lake in 1864 and named it after Prince Albert. Local people had long called it Mwitanzige, which means 'locust killer'.
Where does the water of Lake Albert go?
The water leaves the lake through the Albert Nile. That river carries it on to the White Nile and, in the end, along the Nile to the Mediterranean Sea.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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