Lake Edward

Where is Lake Edward?

Countries on its shores: DR Congo, Uganda.

Middle of the lake: 0.33° S, 29.60° E

The story behind it

Lake Edward lies 912 metres above sea level, just south of the Rwenzori Mountains. About two thirds of the water belongs to the Congo and one third to Uganda. The explorer Henry Morton Stanley named it after Albert Edward, a British prince who later became King Edward VII. The lake lies inside two national parks: Virunga in the Congo and Queen Elizabeth in Uganda. Elephants, lions, chimpanzees and crocodiles live around it. Hippos matter a lot here: their dung feeds the water and helps tilapia fish to grow. Fishers once caught many tonnes of tilapia from about 700 canoes. But the number of hippos has fallen sharply, so there are fewer fish too. The Kazinga Channel links the lake with Lake George, and the Semliki River carries its water north to Lake Albert and on to the Nile. Volcanic craters dot the land nearby.

Find it on the globe

Lake Edward 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.