Lake Victoria

Africa · giant lake · freshwater

Massive African treasure. Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area and the world's second-biggest freshwater lake overall, covering about 59,947 square kilometers (23,146 square miles) - that's roughly the size of Ireland.

Surprisingly shallow. Even though Lake Victoria is enormous on the surface, it's actually quite shallow compared to other big lakes, with an average depth of only 40 meters (130 feet) and a maximum depth of around 80 meters (262 feet).

Island-dotted shores. The lake has an incredibly long and wiggly shoreline stretching 7,142 kilometers (4,438 miles), with thousands of islands sprinkled throughout that make up 3.7% of that total shoreline.

Tropical lake champion. Lake Victoria is the world's largest tropical lake, meaning it sits in a warm climate zone and is fed by rainfall from the surrounding region, making it unique among the planet's giant freshwater lakes.

Holds vast water. The lake contains about 2,424 cubic kilometers of water, which is enough to fill millions of swimming pools and makes it the world's ninth-largest continental lake by volume.