Lake Albert

Lake Albert and its river systems.
Lake Albert and its river systems.
Lake Albert on a 2002 NASA MODIS satellite picture. The dotted grey line is the border between Congo (DRC) (left) and Uganda (right).
Lake Albert on a 2002 NASA MODIS satellite picture. The dotted grey line is the border between Congo (DRC) (left) and Uganda (right).

Lake Albert – also Albert Nyanza and formerly Lake Mobutu Sese Seko – is one of the Great Lakes of Africa. It is Africa's seventh largest lake.

Lake Albert is located in the centre of the continent, on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire). Lake Albert is the northernmost of the chain of lakes in the Great Rift Valley; it is about 160 km (100 mi) long and 30 km (19 mi) wide, with a maximum depth of 51 m (168 ft), and a surface elevation of 619 m (2,030 ft) above sea level.

Lake Albert is part of the complicated system of the upper Nile. Its main sources are the Victoria Nile, ultimately coming from Lake Victoria to the southeast, and the Semliki River, which issues from Lake Edward to the southwest. Its outlet, at the northernmost tip of the lake, is the Albert Nile (which becomes known as the Mountain Nile when it enters Sudan).

At the southern end of the lake, where the Semliki comes in, there are swamps. Farther south loom the mighty Ruwenzori Range, while a range of hills called the Blue Mountains tower over the northwestern shore. The few settlements along the shore include Butiaba and Pakwach.

The north end of Lake Albert, north is to the left. The Victoria Nile rolls in over Murchison Falls from the east, and the WHite Nile flows out north nearby. NASA astronaut photograph ISS009-W-7860.
The north end of Lake Albert, north is to the left. The Victoria Nile rolls in over Murchison Falls from the east, and the WHite Nile flows out north nearby. NASA astronaut photograph ISS009-W-7860.


In 1864, the explorer Samuel Baker became the first European to discover the lake; he named it after the recently deceased Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria.