Lake Malawi (also known as Lake Nyasa in most countries, or Lake Nyassa, Lake Niassa, or Lago Niassa in Mozambique), is an African Great Lake and the southmost lake in the Great Rift Valley system of East Africa. This lake, the third largest in Africa and the eighth largest lake in the world, is located between Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania. It is the second deepest lake in Africa, though its placid northern shore gives no hint of its depth. This great lake's tropical waters reportedly are the habitat of more species of fish than that of any other body of water on the Earth.

Geography

Lake Malawi or Lake Nyaza is between 560 and 580 kilometres long, and about 75 kilometres wide at its widest point. The total surface area of this lake is about 29,600 square kilometres (11,429 square miles). This lake has shorelines on western Mozambique, eastern Malawi, and southern Tanzania. The largest river flowing into this lake is the Ruhuhu River. This large freshwater lake has an outlet, which is the Shire River, a tributary that flows into the very large Zambezi River.

Lake Malawi lies in the Great Rift Valley that was formed by the opening of the East African Rift, where the African tectonic plate is being split into two pieces. This is called a divergent plate tectonics boundary. Lake Malawi or Nyaza itself is variously estimated at about 40,000 years old or about one to two million years.

In addition, Lake Malawi or Nyaza is located about 350 kilometers southeast of Lake Tanganyika, another of the huge lakes of the Great Rift Valley.

Wildlife

Lake Malawi or Nyasa has for millennia provided a major food source to the residents of its shores since its waters are rich in fish such as the chambo, consisting of any one of four species of the cichlid genus Nyasalapia, and the kampango, a large catfish (Bagrus meridionalis). Some of the fish that are caught are exported from Malawi, but the wild population of fish is increasingly threatened by overfishing and water pollution.

The painted hunting dog is believed to be extinct in Malawi, with its last remaining population being spotted in the eastern Miombo woodlands just east of the lake.[9] Other wildlife that is found in and around Lake Malawi or Nyasa include crocodiles, hippopotamus, monkeys, and a significant population of African fish eagles that feed off fish from the lake.

Water chemistry

The water in Lake Malawi or Nyasa is typically slightly alkaline with a pH ranging from 7.7 to 8.6, a carbonate hardness of 107 to 142 mg L−1, and a conductivity of 210 to 285 µS cm−1. Given its tropical latitude, the water of this lake is generally warm, having a surface temperature that ranges from 24 to 29 degrees celsius (75 to 84 degrees fahrenheit), with a deep water temperature of about 22 celsius (72 °F), year round.

credited to wikipedia