Lake Kyoga or Lake Kioga (literally 'the place of bathing' in Runyoro language) is a large shallow lake in Uganda, about The Victoria Nile flows through the lake on its way from Lake Victoria to Lake Albert. The main inflow from Lake Victoria is regulated by the Nalubaale Power Station in Jinja. Another source of water is the Mount Elgon region on the border between Uganda and Kenya. While Lake Kyoga is part of the African Great Lakes system, it is not itself considered a great lake.

The lake reaches a depth of about 5.7 metres, and most of it is less than 4 metres deep. and showing a similar level of diversity in terms of feeding. The Kyoga cichlids include both described species like Haplochromis latifasciatus and H. worthingtoni, and undescribed like H. sp. "Kyoga flameback" and H. sp. "ruby". As in Lake Victoria, the Kyoga cichlids have been decimated by the introduced Nile perch and some species are already extinct. Because Kyoga generally is shallow and swampy, some subsections—"satellite lakes"—are isolated to various degrees from the main lake. The number of surviving haplochromine cichlids in each subsection is directly related to the status of the Nile perch. Despite being the largest by far, less than 50 haplochromine species survive in the main section where the Nile perch is common. In comparison, the much smaller satellite lakes Lemwa, Nyaguo and Nawampasa lack Nile perch, but at least 50 haplochromine species survive in each of the first two, and at least 60 in the last. Conversely, the small satellite lakes Nakuwa and Nyasala where Nile perch is abundant have less than 30 and 5 surviving haplochromines respectively. (the two native tilapias, the Singida and Victoria, have become very rare, except in some satellite lakes).

References

  • DWD (2002) El Niño preparedness for Lake Kyoga and other flood prone areas of Uganda. Directorate of Water Development. Ministry of Water, Lands and Environment, Entebbe, Uganda.
  • ILM (2004) Support to the Management of Sudd Blockage on Lake Kyoga. Produced for the Integrated Lake Management Project by Environmental Impact Assessment Centre of Finland, EIA Ltd. (online PDF version)
  • Twongo, T. (2001) The Fisheries and environment of Kyoga Lakes. Fisheries Resources Research Institute (FIRRI), Jinja, Uganda.
  • Lakes and rivers in Uganda
  • Lake Kyoga (World Lakes Database)