Lakes, Rivers & Waterfalls

Lake Victoria

Geological studies have shown that Lake Victoria has dried up completely a few times in the past, the last time being approximately 17,300 years ago.

Measuring an outstanding 68,000sq. Kms, Lake Victoria is also the largest tropical lake in the world and the second-largest freshwater lake in the world, after Lake Superior in North America.

Lake Victoria is estimated to be about 400,000 years old and was created by the same geological shifts that created the great African rift valleys. Victoria’s shallow basin with an average depth of 40m is in the centre of the great plateau that stretches between the Western and Eastern Rift Valleys. 

Rainfall is the primary source of water for Lake Victoria, complemented by thousands of small streams. River Kagera, which starts in Burundi and flows through Rwanda and Tanzania, also empties into Victoria. The Lake Victoria region is one of the most densely populated in Africa, by a host of bantu-speaking tribes in all three countries, and the Nilotic Luo in Kenya. The Ugandan cities of Kampala, Entebbe and Jinja lie along or near the northern coast in an area that is largely inhabited by the Baganda and Basoga tribes.

​Before her discovery by Europeans and long after that, Lake Victoria was known by several indigenous names. In Uganda the Baganda whose kingdom surrounded the lake, called it Nalubaale.

The River Nile

The source of the River Nile has long been disputed. Initially, it was thought to be Lake Victoria, However, in 1837, German explorer Dr. Burkhart Waldecker claimed that the source could be traced further back to the headwaters of the River Kagera, the largest river that feeds Lake Victoria. Even as recently as In 2006, explorers from the UK and New Zealand posited that the true source is in Nyungwe Forest in Rwanda. Notwithstanding all the claims the Nile does indeed leave Lake Victoria as Victoria (White) Nile at Ripon Falls (Owen Falls) in Jinja. The Speke Monument, one of Uganda’s tallest monuments stands in the exact place where Speke first beheld the ‘Mighty Nile’.
The authentic monument is located on a picturesque hill on the west bank of the Victoria Nile with panoramic views of Lake Victoria and the great River Nile.
To add to its grandeur, this River that snakes its way across half of Africa has its source at Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa and largest tropical lake in the world. River Nile takes its name from the Greek word Nelios meaning river.
Visitors to Uganda will encounter the magnificent Nile in two key places; the launch cruise on the River Nile in Murchison Falls Park is the ultimate game viewing experience for an array of animals and birds, and in Jinja town adrenaline junkies can enjoy several adventure activities that happen on or around the Nile.

Murchison Falls

The British explorer, Sir Samuel Baker who first visited the falls in the 1860’s reported in his book: “Upon rounding the corner, a magnificent sight burst suddenly upon us.

The most spectacular thing on the Nile

At the top of the falls, six million cubic meters of water from the Victoria Nile crash through a 7meter gap in the rocks each second, before plunging 43meters into a deep gorge, the Devil’s Cauldron. 

Unbelievably, Murchison Falls used to be even more powerful before 1962 when massive floods created a second channel and the smaller Uhuru Falls.

Famous visitors to Murchison include Winston Churchill who in 1907 walked the 86kms from Masindi, American President Theodore Roosevelt IN 1909 on an East African Safari, and American novelist Ernest Hemingway who survived a plane crash close to the falls, and Queen Elizabeth in 1959. The incredible Murchison was a backdrop in the 1951 Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart film The African Queen.