Nyasa Lake takes the sixth place in the ten deepest lakes in the world, the ninth - in the ranking of the largest reservoirs by area. It is the third largest in Africa.
The tropical waters of Malawi (the second name Nyasa) are characterized by a large number of fish. Such a diversity of the fishing kingdom is not found in any other lake on the planet.
The origin of the lake basin of Lake Nyasa
Several million years - this is how experts estimate the age of such a reservoir as Lake Nyasa. The origin of the basin of reservoirs can be associated with a volcanic or tectonic fault, due to an exogenous factor, convergence of glaciers and other situations.
The Malawi Lake Basin is the result of a tectonic rift. That is, the origin of Lake Nyasa is associated with a grandiose fracture of the earth's crust - the East African graben. As a rule, such lakes are the largest and deepest on the globe. No exception and Lake Nyasa.
The origin of the Malawi basin, according to some sources, questions the continued existence of Africa. In the future, this fault may break the continent from south to north along the Great Lakes. This will lead to a change in the slope of the land and the direction of the flow of water in the rivers.
Discovery story
If to trace the origin of Lake Nyasa for scientists was not difficult, then its discovery does not seem entirely understandable. For Europeans, the history of this geographical object began almost four hundred years ago. Then, in 1616, a Portuguese named Gashpar Bucarro during his journey through the northeast of the lower reaches of the Zambezi River, which flows into the Indian Ocean, made the first discovery of Lake Nyasa. It turned out that even though Bucarru was the European discoverer of the reservoir, it was not widely publicized, and the information itself was buried in the Portuguese state archives. Therefore, for a long time, the discovery of Lake Nyasa was attributed to the Scottish missionary and the great explorer of Africa, David Lingston.
He, knowing nothing about both the explorer Bucarru himself and his discovery, in 1858 led a large expedition to the Zambezi basin. And September 16, 1859 declared the opening date of the southernmost of the Great Lakes of East Africa - Lake Nyasa. By the way, it is worth noting: if his attempt to climb up the Zambezi had not failed, then maybe he would not have started exploring the Shire River and would not have stumbled upon a “lake of stars,” as the researcher himself called Nyasa in his diaries.
The origin of the name of the lake
As already mentioned, one of the largest lakes in Africa has two names - Nyasa and Malawi.
“Nyasa” is consonant with the ancient name of Lake Victoria - “Nyanza”. These two words come from different but related languages that belong to one large language family - Bantu. Hence their identical meaning - “big water” or “large body of water”.
The second name - Malawi - comes from the ethnic group of Malawi, which makes up more than half the population of the same African republic. By the way, the latter belongs to most of the reservoir. But this will be discussed later.
Due to the duality of the name on different maps, you can find both Lake Malawi and Lake Nyasa.
Geography
Where is Nyasa located? The lake fills a crack in the earth’s crust of the Rift Basin, which is located at the southernmost point of the Great Rift System. And the latter stretched between the outskirts of the Red Sea and the lower reaches of the Zambezi River.
Due to the peculiarities of the area where Nyasa is located, the lake has an elongated shape, reaching a length of 584 km with a width of 16 to 80 km in different places. The area of the reservoir is 29 604 km, and it lies at an altitude of almost five hundred meters (more specifically - 472 m) above sea level.
The maximum depth of Lake Nyasa reaches 706 m, and the average - 292 m. This means that the deepest places are below sea level. The bottom of the lake does not have sharp drops; depth indicators gradually increase from south to north.
The relief of the coastline is not monotonous. In some places of the coast, mountains and peaks rise (from 1,500 to 3,000 m above sea level), in others there is a coastal plain that expands at the places where large rivers flow into this water body.
Nyasa Lake on the map of Africa can be found at the coordinates: 11 ° 52 ′ south latitude and 34 ° 35 ′ east longitude.
Climate
The climate in the territory where Lake Nyasa is located is subtropical and tends to change: invigorating coolness reigns in the mountains, in the valley of Malawi it is moderately warm, and in the Lower River area it is really hot.
Autumn and winter are warm and mostly dry, only occasionally rains are possible. The minimum temperature mark at this time does not fall below +22 0 C, and the maximum fluctuates at +25 0 C. Yes, and even then it is in the mountains. On the plain, the temperature is slightly, but higher: +27 ... +30 0 .
In late spring - early summer, the rainy season begins. The air temperature drops to +15 ... +18 0 in the mountains, and +20 ... +25 0 in the plain.
Hydrography
Nyasa Lake is fed by fourteen rivers. Among them, an important place is occupied by the Bois (or, as it is sometimes translated, Bva), Northern and Southern Rukaka, who carry their waters from the west, Dvang, Ruukhu - from the north-east, Songwe - from the north-west and Lilongwe - from the south the west.
The Shire River is the only external drain of the reservoir. It flows from Malawi in the south and flows to the Zambezi.
The great depth of the lake means no less than the volume of the water mass of Nyas - 8,400 km 3 . But, despite this, its runoff equals 63 km 3 of water per year. Of this volume, only 16% flows through the Shire River, the remaining 84% evaporates from the surface. Due to such features, the period of renewal of water at the lake is quite long: according to experts, 114 years are needed for a complete renewal of the water mass.
The salinity of Lake Nyasa is within 0.4 grams per 1 liter. The water itself is similar in composition to the water of Lake Tanganyika - just as hard and hard. For both reservoirs, the same temperature is also characteristic, which, depending on the time of year, ranges from 23.5 to 27.5 0 C.
Biology
Lake Malawi has one of the most diverse ecosystems among all freshwater bodies on the planet. From 500 to 1000 species of fish live in it, eleven families are represented.
On each site, in separate bays and on the coasts, its own fishing kingdom. But the most common inhabitants are lake cichlids, which are divided into two groups: pelagic and coastal. Pelagic cichlids are predatory fish, most of them live in a thicker species away from the coast. Their opposite is coastal cichdids. They are distinguished by a wide variety of sizes, shapes, ways of eating and behavior.
But fish are not the only inhabitants of the waters of Lake Nyasa. Crocodiles and African whooper eagles, which inhabit it in large numbers, have chosen the pond.
In general, the animal world boasts no less variety of its representatives. Around the lake, buffalos, rhinos, African elephants, zebras, antelopes, giraffes, carnivorous lions, cheetahs, leopards, hyenas and jackals roam. Such many wild animals are due to the versatility of nature. Here savanna with green palm trees, aerial acacias and majestic baobabs adjoin mountain tropical rainforests.
Political distribution
Around the magnificent lake are three countries: Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania. Between the last two for a long time there was a debate about who owns the waters of the reservoir. And all due to the fact that in different years the boundaries of ownership were determined differently: before the First World War, the line ran between the former Nyasaland and German East Africa, and after 1914, the lake was counted in Malawi.
Sometimes these disputes led to clashes. But today, passions have calmed down a bit, and Malawi is no longer trying to restore its rights to the object under consideration. Although the belonging of the disputed part to Tanzania is not officially recognized.
With all this, part of Nyas and its basin is proportionally divided as follows: Malawi is subject to 68% of the reservoir, Tanzania - 25%, and Mozambique - only 7% of the basin.
Fisheries
A large number of fish contributed to the formation of such fisheries as fishing. The annual volume of fish caught here was equal to five to seven thousand tons per year, of which 2/3 were caught by local African fishermen.
The development of fishing has led to the emergence on the shores of Lake Nyasa of small fishing villages that live solely on the sale of the catch. Of course, residents consume a small fraction of the catch themselves, but most of it is sold - they smoked or dried fish and sell it in this form, most often through intermediaries.
More recently, Lake Nyasa has become a commercial fishing ground, not only locally, but also by foreigners. Such activities are fully market oriented. Fishermen, unlike African fishermen, have fully equipped modern vessels.
Despite the great demand for fish, the deep-water part of the reservoir remains underutilized - to expand fishing areas, improved equipment is needed, and accordingly, more money is required. In the meantime, there is enough production closer to the coast, no one will be ready for extra expenses.
Tourism
The beauty of Lake Nyasa alone could be a reason for the pilgrimage of tourists. But the fishing kingdom has become not only a fishing specialization, but also a bait for divers.
Today, there are special tours to Lake Malawi for diving and admiring the beauties of the underwater world. How else? After all, such a variety of aquarium fish, along with the transparency of water (visibility is achieved at a distance of thirty meters), has no analogues in all of Africa.
Typically, such tours include both day dives and night diving. In addition to swimming, vacationers can enjoy walking and transport along the picturesque shores of the lake.
But not only divers come here. In 1934, some parts of the territory were declared forest reserves and bird sanctuaries, and in 1972 their area increased several times, which led to the creation of a national park. For example, ornithological researchers can make several discoveries by observing a large population of fishing eagles who like to hunt and nest on the shores of the lake.
The journey to Nyasa, like his story, will not leave anyone indifferent!