Lake Malawi
| Lake Malawi | ||
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| Lake Malawi from orbit | ||
| Geographical location | East Africa | |
| Tributaries | Ruhuhu , Bua , Dwangwa , Linthipe , Lufira , Northern Rukuru , Songwe , Southern Rukuru | |
| Drain | Shire | |
| Islands | Chizumulu , Likoma | |
| Places on the shore | Nkhata Bay , Karonga , Nkhotakota , Chipoka , Mbamba Bay | |
| Data | ||
| Coordinates | 12 ° S , 34 ° E | |
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| Altitude above sea level | 474 m | |
| surface | 29,600 km² | |
| length | 570 km | |
| width | 75 km | |
| volume | 8400 km³ | |
| Maximum depth | 704 m | |
| Middle deep | 292 m | |
| Catchment area | 126,500 km² | |
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particularities |
Lake with the most species of fish in the world |
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Lake Malawi or Lake Nyasa (after Nyasa in Tanzania, Niassa in Mozambique; from Yao Nyasa "lake") in East Africa is the ninth largest lake on earth. Its outflow is the Shire . The states bordering the lake are Tanzania , Malawi and Mozambique , with Malawi having the longest shoreline and almost the entire western shore.
description
Lake Malawi is one of the African Great Lakes in the East African Rift Valley . With a length of 560 kilometers, a width of up to 80 kilometers (an average of 50 kilometers) and a depth of up to 704 meters, it is the third largest lake in Africa and is only surpassed by Lake Tanganyika and Lake Victoria in terms of area . Since the lake has existed for more than a million years, it is one of the long-term lakes on earth. It is known for its wide variety of fish species.
geography
The banks become steeper to the north. In the far north, on the Tanzanian side, the Livingstone Mountains rise directly out of the lake with steep walls up to almost 2500 meters. Very strong winds with high waves and treacherous down winds can occur here. Those who sail or windsurf here must be aware of these dangers. The opposite Malawian seaside between Karonga and Chilumba is far less rugged than that between Chilumba and Nkhata Bay.
Hydrology
It has a catchment system of 126,500 km². Smaller parts of Tanzania (26,600 km²) and Mozambique (12,370 km²) drain through Lake Malawi. The largest part of its catchment area, however, is made up of the entire north of Malawi with 87,530 km². In the west, the catchment area borders are practically identical to the Malawian national borders.
Lake Malawi drains south across the Shire into the Zambezi .
ecology
The water of the lake is very clear. On the lakeshore you can see the bottom. Countless sea eagles live on Lake Malawi. Special attention should be paid to hippos , which are very agile and fast on water and on land. Although they are herbivores , they attack people if they cut off their escape route into open water. They try to drag their victims underwater and drown them. Each year more people are killed by hippos than by crocodiles , who find enough food in the fish-rich lake. If you drive to smaller, uninhabited islands, should be prepared for wildlife, including Seepythons and large monitor lizards . The lake is comparatively harmless in inhabited areas.
fauna
Lake Malawi is known for its rich species of mouth-breeding cichlids . Almost 450 species of fish live in the lake, most of them are cichlids. Almost all cichlid genera and species are endemic . The endemic genera of cichlids include Aulonocara , Labeotropheus , Labidochromis , Maylandia , Melanochromis , Pseudotropheus and Sciaenochromis . They form a swarm of species that arose from a Haplochromis or Pseudocrenilabrus -like ancestor. The cichlid species that are ecologically bound to the rocky shores of the lake are called mbuna by the inhabitants of the lake , while the rest are called Utaka . In addition to the cichlids, Nile pike , various species of catfish , carp fish , tetras , a spiny eel ( Mastacembelus shiranus ) and three types of toothfish are found in Lake Malawi .
Many cichlids are popular aquarium fish . The Chambo, actually four species of cichlids of the genus Oreochromis , and the Kampango , a species of catfish ( Bagrus meridionalis ), which are also exported, are important for human nutrition . However, only the southernmost part of Lake Malawi is economically fished for them. Fishermen in pirogues also fish for them, but not in quantities suitable for the market. To protect the breeding grounds of fish in 1980 was at the lake on the south bank Monkey Bay of Lake Malawi National Park set up, also on the list of since 1984 UNESCO - World Heritage is.
tourism
On Lake Malawi, passenger and freight traffic takes place with the MS Ilala . The ports are from south to north: Monkey Bay , Chipoka , Makanjila, Nkhotakota , Nkhata Bay , Mphandi Port, Ruarwe, Charo, Mlowe, Chilumba, Kambwe bei Karonga . The Monkey Bay – Karonga return trip takes five days. The islands of Chizumulu and Likoma are visited twice a week from Nkhata Bay .
Ferry traffic between Mbamba Bay and Nkhata Bay is currently (2016) suspended due to disputes between Malawi and Tanzania over rights of use at the lake, but small, private boats occasionally run, which not only transport goods but also a small number of people.
The Mangochi district offers the best infrastructure with numerous hotels, lodges and camps for tourists. Further north is the seaside resort of Senga with a similarly good, but far less extensive range of offers. Nkhata Bay and Cape MacLear have established themselves as destinations for backpackers .
Lake Malawi is only partially free from schistosomiasis . The reason for the lower occurrence of Schistosoma larvae in the water compared to other African lakes is suspected to be a high magnesium content in the water, but also because cichlids eat snails, i.e. the host animal of the schistosomiasis pathogen. It is speculation. With a certain probability, Schistosoma are generally more numerous in shallow water and at river mouths than on sandy beaches, in moving and in deep water. For Lake Malawi, water investigations revealed different concentrations of the pathogen depending on the bank vegetation, water depth and other factors. Numerous locals and tourists are infected by Schistosoma every year, with the highest risk of illness around Cape MacLear . Before 1985, the open parts of the lake were free from schistosomiasis pathogens, since then their occurrence, especially in the south, has increased significantly. Perhaps that is overfishing of cichlids a cause.
history
Lake Malawi was discovered by the British explorer David Livingstone and his companions on September 16, 1859 for European perception.
During the colonial period , a railway line was planned from Mtwara on the Indian Ocean to Mbamba Bay on Lake Malawi, but the plan was not implemented. Today there are still plans to build the railway line, the so-called Mtwara Development Corridor, to develop coal deposits in the Mchuchuma-Katewake area and to create an alternative sea connection for Malawi.
Nkhotakota is one of the oldest marketplaces in sub-Saharan Africa . Little is known about its history.
In Karonga the site where the oldest to lies genus Homo asked Fossils , the date of paleoanthropologists was discovered. The toothed lower jaw, which is more than two million years old, was given archive number UR 501 and was classified as Homo rudolfensis by its discoverer, Friedemann Schrenk .
During the early reign (since 1966 president) of the Malawian President Hastings Kamuzu Banda , close cooperation with South Africa developed . At that time, Malawi was evidently the only African state that was willing to cooperate with the apartheid regime . That was the basis for the establishment of the Malawi Navy with South African support. The port in Monkey Bay to the south was to become a first naval base. A small group of Malawian military had come to South Africa for naval training in Langebaan in Saldanha Bay in the 1970s . There were even plans to move a former training ship from South Africa here by land and water. The plan failed in 1975 after considerable preparations due to the political changes in neighboring Mozambique. The intended crew returned to Malawi. South Africa later had an attaché of its navy accredited in Malawi . Monkey Bay later developed into the home port of the Malawi Defense Force - Marine Unit .
politics
There are border disputes between Malawi and Tanzania. When the colonial borders were drawn in 1890, Malawi was granted the entire lake ( Helgoland-Zanzibar Treaty ). Tanzania claims the areas that, under current international law, lie on its half of the lake. The conflict intensified when, in 2012, oil and gas were discovered on the Tanzanian side, which Malawi wants to use economically.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Naturalization of Lake Malawi Levels and Shire River Flows
- ↑ Geoffrey Fryer (2006): "Evolution in ancient lakes: radiation of Tanganyikan atyid prawns and speciation of pelagic cichlid fishes in Lake Malawi". In: Hydrobiologia . September 2006, Volume 568, Issue 1 Supplement, pp. 131-142
- ^ Evaluating land cover change and its impact on hydrological regime in Upper Shire river catchment, Malawi
- ↑ Fishbase Fishspecies in Lake Malawi
- ↑ Petru Banaescu: Zoogeography of Fresh Waters . Page 1152, AULA, Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-89104-480-1
- ↑ Martin J. Genner and Ellinor Michel: Fine-scale habitat associations of soft-sediment gastropods at Cape MacLear, Lake Malawi. Journal of Molluscan Studies, London 2003 (PDF; 102 kB)
- ↑ JR Stauffer, H. Madsen, K. McKaye and a .: Schistosomiasis in Lake Malawi: Relationship of Fish and Intermediate Host Density to Prevalence of Human Infection. EcoHealth Journal 2006
- ^ Ivor C. Little: Project Dobbin. The story of a South African patrol boat - P1558 . In: Military History Journal (South African Military History Society), Vol. 14 (2009), No. 5, online at www.samilitaryhistory.org (English)
- ↑ Guy Martin, Oscar Nkala: Malawi Defense Force Marine Unit takes delivery of BR850 interceptors . News from November 12, 2013 on www.defenceweb.co.za (English)
- ↑ Enelless Nyale: Malawi's Banda, arms firm rock the boat . Mail & Guardian, notification of January 29, 2016 at www.mg.co.za (English)
- ↑ Deutschlandfunk - Sardines and Petroleum
- ^ Hanns Seidel Foundation, Hanns Seidel Foundation, Quarterly Report, Tanzania, IV / 2012
