Lake · Burundi, DR Congo, Tanzania
Lake Tanganyika
Lake Tanganyika is the longest freshwater lake in the world and the second deepest after Lake Baikal. It lies in East Africa and is shared by four countries.
Picture credit: Orrling (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Ellyswema (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Erasmus Kamugisha (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Lake Tanganyika?
Countries on its shores: Burundi, DR Congo, Tanzania, Zambia.
Largest lake of: Burundi, DR Congo.
Middle of the lake: 6.10° S, 29.50° E
The story behind it
Lake Tanganyika is 673 km long but at most 72 km wide, like a giant blue ribbon. Its deepest point lies 1 470 metres down, yet fish can only live in the upper part, because the deep water has no oxygen. The lake holds more fresh water than any other in Africa. Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo own most of it, Burundi and Zambia smaller parts. For Burundi and for the DR Congo it is the largest lake. Cities such as Bujumbura, Kigoma and Kalemie lie on its shores. More than 250 kinds of cichlid fish live here and nowhere else, and two kinds of small sardines live in the lake. At night fishers light lanterns to attract the fish, and sometimes more than a hundred lights twinkle on the lake. Its only outflow, the Lukuga River, carries water towards the Congo River.
Find it on the globe
Lake Tanganyika 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 Tanganyika?
Lake Tanganyika covers about 32 900 km² and is 673 km long. Because it is so deep, it holds about 18 750 km³ of water, the second-largest amount of any freshwater lake.
For which countries is Lake Tanganyika the largest lake?
It is the largest lake of Burundi and of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which owns about 40 percent of it. Tanzania also owns a big part, but Lake Victoria is even bigger there.
Why do fish only live near the surface of Lake Tanganyika?
The deep water of the lake contains no oxygen, so fish and most other animals cannot breathe down there. That is why nearly all life is found in the upper layer of water.
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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