Lake Victoria Uganda
Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes shared among three East African countries including Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. The water body, one of the Lakes in Uganda was titled after Queen Victoria by the British explorer John Hanning Speke, the first person to document it in 1858 as he was on an African tour with Richard Francis Burton to trace the Source of the Nile River.
With An estimated surface area of 68,800 km2 (26,600 square miles), Lake Victoria is the largest Lake on the African continent. It is also largest tropical lake in whole world besides being the world’s second largest fresh water lake by surface area next to Lake Superior in North America. Lake Victoria is the ninth largest continental lake in the world in terms of water volumes containing about 2,750 cubic kilometres or 2.23×109 acre-feet of water.
The lake gets water mainly from rainfall and thousands of minor streams flowing into it with River Kagera being the largest river whose waters goes into it. Lake Victoria waters are drained uniquely by River Nile near Jinja in Uganda on its northern shores.
From the tourism perspective, Lake Victoria has got very attractive islands which act as holiday destinations in Uganda. For visitor who enjoy vacation tours, the vast lake has Bulago Island on which the soothing Pineapple Bay Resort is found. after Ukerewe Island in Tanzania, Bugala Island on the side of Uganda is the second largest island in Lake Victoria with several holiday accommodations and resorts. These include Brovad Sands Lodge, Ssese Islands Beach Hotel, Mirembe Resort Beach Hotel, Ssese Habitat Resort, Victoria Forest Resort, Ssese Palm Beach Resort, Panorama Cottages, Philo Leisure Gardens, Kalangala Pearl Beach Resort and Pearl Gardens Beach among others. Bugala Island has an estimated area of 275 square kilometres or 106 square miles which total to 27,000 hectares.
Another Tour attractions is Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary, the home for orphaned chimps taken there from different parts of the Uganda.