Lake Tanganyika played a part in the European exploration of Africa, with the British Burton and Speke team investigating it as a possible source for the Nile. In addition, on the banks of this immense East African Lake, Stanley uttered the famous line, "Doctor Livingstone, I presume". Lake Tanganyika, the Fossil Water Lake, fills a 4,700 ft. canyon formed by the Great Rift Valley. Due to this depth and length (420 miles), the lake contains nearly 7,413 sq. miles of water, nearly seven times the amount of water as its neighbor, Lake Victoria.

The vast majority of this water is 'dead' or fossil water that may be as much as 20 million years old. Created by the lack of upwellings or currents within the Lake, the water is either too low in oxygen or too high in hydrogen sulphide to support life. Only the top 600 feet, moved by storms and the winds, provide for all the life forms within the Lake.

Effectively a land locked inland sea, Lake Tanganyika's isolation shows itself as one of the most unique eco-systems in the world. Ninety-eight percent of the Lake's cichlid fish are unique to the Lake. Also endemic are all seven of its crabs, five out of thirteen bivalve mollusks, eleven of its crustaceans and more than half of its gastropod mollusks.

Copyright Melinda Rees of Eco-resorts