Ssese Islands, Lake Victoria, Uganda

Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa and chief reservoir of the Nile, lying mainly in Tanzania and Uganda. Among the freshwater lakes of the world it is exceeded in size only by Lake Superior in North America. Its waters fill a shallow depression in the plateau that stretches between the Western and Eastern Rift Valleys. At 1,134 m above sea level, it has an area of 69,484 square km, max north-south length of 337 km, max breadth of 240 km, and a coastline over 3,220 km. Many archipelagos are contained within the lake, as are numerous reefs, often just below the surface of the clear waters. It has more than 200 species of fish, of which the Tilapia is the most economically important.

At the lake's northwestern corner are the 62 islands of the Ssese archipelago, some of them of striking beauty. The Ugandan cities of Kampala and Entebbe lie along or near the northern coast. The search by Europeans for the source of the Nile led to the sighting of the lake by the British explorer John Hanning Speke in 1858. Formerly known to the Arabs as Ukerewe, the lake was named by Speke in honor of Queen Victoria of England. A detailed survey of the lake was made by Sir William Garstin in 1901. Plans for gradually raising the level of the lake's waters were completed in 1954 with the construction of the Owen Falls Dam on the Victoria Nile at Jinja, Uganda; the dam, which provides hydroelectric power on a large scale, made the lake a vast reservoir. [—Adapted from Encyclopedia Britannica, 2004]

Pastor and fisherman	Malachite kingfisher	Salon Ssese	Lake Victoria sunset
Rutoboka village, Buggala			Kalangala children
Children			Panorama camping lodge
Lake vista	Fishing boats	Tropical island	Bather
Boda boda			Evening on Lake Victoria
Burning brick kiln			Sunset
Martha	Boy	Child	Alice
Tilapia & Nile perch fishing	Fishermen	Nice haul?	Lake vista
Time for rest	White beach	Dusk	Lake Victoria sunset
Dewy spider web	Ssese islands	Vista point	Vista point
Local flora	Former house of John Speke	View from Buggala island	Visitor
Distant village	Kalangala central market	Lake Victoria sunset	Main street
Smoking fish	Smoked fish	Senior citizen	Ugandan cows
Ferry from Bukakata	Offloading	Coming home?	Passengers
Island transportation	Boda boda taxi service	Fresh off the ferry	The dreaded matatu
Hamerkop	Campground owners	Evening	Lake Victoria sunset