Lake Squared

When traveling through Malawi, you can’t help but encounter Lake Malawi which constitutes up to a third of this narrow country and covers nearly the entire eastern border.

Lake Malawi is one of the African Great Lakes – the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system of lakes. The Rift Valley was formed when the African tectonic plate was pulled apart as the continents separated. Today this valley stretches from Syria to Mozambique and contains a number of very large and very deep lakes which were formed not long after the valley itself.

Lake Malawi is 360 miles long, 47 miles wide, and 2316 feet deep. (By way of comparison, the deepest lake in the US is Lake Superior at 1333 feet deep). Lake Malawi is the third largest lake in Africa and the eighth largest lake in the world.

Lake Malawi borders not only Malawi but also Tanzania and Mozambique. Like many spots around the world, the borders are in dispute. Malawi believes that the majority of the surface of the water falls in their country. Tanzania disputes this and claims the border to be down the center of the lake. The official border is unclear and fishermen are occasionally fined for crossing international boundaries.

Interestingly, however, it’s not just the borders that are disputed, even the name of the lake is in question. Malawi claims that the lake is “Lake Malawi” (in part to help strengthen their claim to the entirety of the lake). Most other countries, including Tanzania, refer to it as Lake Nyasa -- most international maps use the name “Lake Nyasa.”

The name Nyasa comes from David Livingstone who reached the lake in 1859. Members of his party asked the locals the name of the lake and they said “Nyasa” – the local word for “lake.” Livingstone’s party didn’t realize their translation error and named it Lake Nyasa – “Lake Lake.”

Lake Malawi lies at a tropical latitude and accordingly contains warm water year round. The surface temperature varies between 75 and 84 degrees, and even the deep water only gets down to 72 degrees! That makes this lake ideal for those of us who aren’t fans of cold water!

Interestingly, it isn’t just people who aren’t fans of cold water.

This lake is home to more species of fish than any other body of freshwater on Earth, in fact, the variety of species of fish in this lake is more than all lakes in North America and Europe combined! There are 1000 species of fish from the cichlid family alone and 80% of these are believed to be endemic (found only in Lake Malawi). This made me want to get under the water to see the other side of Lake Malawi.

Lake Malawi doesn’t have the bright colored corals and fish of the Caribbean Sea, but it is like swimming through an aquarium – fish are everywhere!

The bottom is full of small craters from one particular species of cichlid who uses his nose to dig a crater to attract females (as a safe spot for her to lay eggs).

This is the only group of fish in the world that creates a nest and stays with their eggs until they hatch. They even stay with the small fish, guarding them from larger fish until they’re large enough to make their own way in this underwater world!

Here are some of the beautiful views I enjoyed at Lake Lake:

View From Inside the Aquarium

The Moon Rising Over Lake Malawi

Sunrise

Reflection of the Full Moon on Lake Lake

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The Smoke That Thunders

The Zambezi River is the fourth largest in Africa (1673 miles) after the Nile, the Congo, and the Niger.

Roughly 620 miles from the source of the Zambezi, the river divides the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe where it plunges into a deep gorge to form one of the largest waterfalls in the world, Victoria Falls.

The first European to see Victoria Falls was David Livingstone, a Scottish missionary and explorer.

Upon viewing the massive waterfall, he named it Victoria Falls in honor of the Queen of England. However, the locals had long called the falls Mosi-oa-Tunya – the Smoke that Thunders.

This name comes from the spray from the falls that rises to a height of over 1300 feet (up to 2600 feet in high season) and is visible up to 31 miles away!

My first views of Victoria Falls were from the Zimbabwe side, in the early morning around sunrise, and the spray only occasionally granted me a glimpse of this awesome waterfall.

As the day wore on, I was able to enjoy more views of the falls, which are 5698 feet wide.

Every year, the area experiences a rainy season from November to April. Therefore, the river swells from February to May – reaching its peak in April (when I was visiting the falls!). During the flood season, the walks along the cliffs opposite the falls are in a constant shower. In fact, spray shoots upward as if it’s raining from below! Needless to say, I got wet.

Average water flow in April is ten times that of the lowest time (usually around November) creating quite a different view for visitors.

As a point of comparison, during peak flow in April, an amount of water equal to the annual water consumption of all of New York City goes over the falls every 3 ½ days!

This variation in flow causes some difficulties when trying to rank the size of Victoria Falls against other large waterfalls of the world.

There are three ways to measure a waterfall: height, width, and volume. In height, Victoria Falls doesn’t rank in the top 800, it is 10^th largest by width, and only 13^th largest by volume. However, some call Victoria Falls the largest waterfall in the world since the width and height together form the largest single sheet of falling water in the world.

Iguazu Falls in Argentina/Brazil is a close contender for this title. However, despite being over 3000 feet wider, Iguazu is broken into 270 separate falls. Therefore, it cannot lay claim to the largest single sheet of falling water. (For more information and photos of Iguazu, see my earlier blog: http://bothsidesnowblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/poor-niagara.html).

I really enjoyed the views from both the Zambian and Zimbabwean National Parks as well as the Victoria Falls Bridge that links them.

But one thing that struck me in both national parks were the safety measures, or lack thereof, and what a sharp contrast this is to parks in the United States. To be clear, I think all of the guard rails and signs in the US take it too far. However, Victoria Falls is clearly at the other end of the spectrum. Some examples:

A warning sign in Zimbabwe mentioning “slippery rocks” and “no barriers.”

Sure enough, slippery rocks and no barriers!

Some typical walkways in the Zambian park – next to a 350 foot plunge to the raging waters below!

Not that I mind the natural views without signs and fences, but I did step a bit more carefully!

The locals, however, didn’t seem too concerned. The water at the lip of the falls seems to be a popular spot for a dip.

I however, stayed on dry ground.

But, surprisingly, the park authorities don’t have a problem with more “adventurous” behavior. I was completely shocked to see this sign as I watched the water rushing over the edge just a few feet away:

Personally, there’s nothing about this view:

that makes me want to walk across the river (especially when I hear about the “occasional deaths”). I prefer to walk on more designated walkways, with the spray, you get just as wet as going for a dip!

Regardless of whether or not Victoria Falls is the largest waterfall in the world, no one can deny its natural beauty. Mother Nature certainly blessed this section of Africa!

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