What is the deepest lake in Africa?

The deepest lake in Africa is Lake Tanganyika, which reaches a maximum depth of about 1,470 metres. It lies in the western branch of the East African Rift and borders Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and Zambia.

Tanganyika is a long, narrow rift lake formed as the Earth’s crust pulled apart and dropped between steep fault-block mountains. Its great depth and age have produced distinct ecological zones, including deep cold water and an extraordinary variety of endemic fish, especially brightly coloured cichlids.

The lake is also the world’s second-deepest freshwater lake after Lake Baikal and the second-largest freshwater lake by volume. It is the longest freshwater lake in the world, extending for roughly 673 kilometres from north to south.

Lake Malawi, also called Lake Nyasa, is a frequent source of confusion because it is another major African rift lake and reaches about 706 metres. Lake Victoria is Africa’s largest lake by surface area, but it is much shallower than Tanganyika.