Lake Débo

Where is Lake Débo?

Countries on its shores: Mali.

Largest lake of: Mali.

Middle of the lake: 15.31° N, 4.10° W

The story behind it

Lake Débo lies in the Inner Niger Delta, a huge flat area where the Niger River spreads out into many lakes, channels and swamps. It is the biggest of all these lakes. The lake is fullest in November and December, when the floods of the Niger and its tributary, the Bani, arrive. In the dry season it shrinks a lot. When the water is high, Bozo fishers go out onto the lake to catch fish. When the water goes down, Fula herders bring their herds to graze on the bourgou grass that grows there. More than a million birds have been counted at the lake, among them spoonbills, glossy ibises, great white egrets and rare black crowned cranes. Many migrating birds, such as sand martins and yellow wagtails, spend the winter here. The town of Mopti lies about 80 km upstream, and Timbuktu about 240 km downstream.

Find it on the globe

Lake Débo 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.