Lake Mweru

Where is Lake Mweru?

Countries on its shores: Zambia, DR Congo.

Middle of the lake: 9.00° S, 28.72° E

The story behind it

Lake Mweru is part of the Congo River system and is the second-largest lake in the Congo's basin, after Lake Tanganyika. The Luapula River pours in from the south through a wide, swampy delta, and the Luvua River carries the water out to the north. On the western side, in DR Congo, a steep, rocky slope rises above the shore, while the land on the Zambian side in the east is mostly flat. Kilwa Island lies closer to the western shore, but it belongs to Zambia. Fishing is very important here: about 4 500 small boats, most of them built from wooden planks, go out on the lake. Fishers catch longfin tilapia, catfish and tigerfish. The explorer David Livingstone reached the lake around 1867 and called it 'Moero'.

Find it on the globe

Lake Mweru 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.