LAKE TANGANYIKA

Lake Tanganyika is one of the most beautiful and untouched Lakes of the Rift Valley. It’s so remote that you will literally feel as if you’ve travelled to the end of the world. Lake Tanganyika is estimated to be the second largest freshwater lake in the world by volume, and the second deepest.

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The lake is divided between four countries – Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Tanzania and Zambia, with the DRC and Tanzania possessing the majority of the lake.

The lake is situated within the Western Rift of the Great Rift Valley formed and is confined by the mountainous walls of the valley.

The lake holds at least 250 species of cichlid fish and 150 non-cichlid species, most of which live along the shoreline down to a depth of approximately 600 feet (180 m).

The largest biomass of fish, however, is in the pelagic zone (open waters) and is dominated by six species: two species of "Tanganyika sardine" and four species of predatory lates.

Almost all of the Tanganyikan cichlid species are endemic (exclusively native) to the lake and many, such as fish from the brightly coloured Tropheus genus, are prized within the aquarium trade.

This kind of elevated endemism also occurs among the numerous invertebrates in the lake, most especially the molluscs (which possess similar forms to that of many marine molluscs), crabs, shrimps, copepods, jellyfishes, leeches, etc.
 

Contact us by email or contact us by telephone on 0207 622 5114 and ask to speak to a consultant about Lake Tanganyika.

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