Lake Sibaya

Where is Lake Sibaya?

Countries on its shores: South Africa.

Largest lake of: South Africa.

Middle of the lake: 27.36° S, 32.69° E

The story behind it

Long ago the lake was probably a lagoon, a bay of the sea. Then sand piled up and cut it off from the ocean. The name Sibaya comes from the Zulu word isibaya, which means a pen or enclosure for cattle. Zulu herders thought that the hills around the lake looked like a giant natural cattle pen. On average the lake is about 11 metres deep. Hippos and crocodiles live in the water, and 279 kinds of birds have been counted in and around the lake, 60 of which nest here. There are also 22 kinds of frogs. A tiny water creature called a copepod lives nowhere else in the world but here, and a rare vanilla orchid grows nowhere else in South Africa. The lake lies about 45 kilometres from the border with Mozambique and is part of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park.

Find it on the globe

Lake Sibaya 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.