Both Sides Now: 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!