This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Lake Eyasi" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(August 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Lake Eyasi
Lake Eyasi from space, May 1993, nearly devoid of water. North is to the top. The indented southeast shore is filled in by sediment.
Sibiti River (southwest end, clipped from image above), Baray (delta at western end), lesser seasonal rivers
Primary outflows
none
Basin countries
Tanzania
Max. depth
unknown
Surface elevation
1,030 m (3,380 ft)
Islands
none
Lake Eyasi (Swahili: Ziwa Eyasi; formerly German: Njarasasee, "Njarasa Lake", and Hohenlohesee, "Hohenlohe Lake") is a lake located in Karatu District of Arusha Region in north Tanzania. Lake Eyasi is the largest body of water in Arusha region. It is a seasonal shallow endorheic salt lake on the floor of the Great Rift Valley at the base of the Serengeti Plateau, just south of the Serengeti National Park and immediately southwest of the Ngorongoro Crater in the Crater Highlands of Tanzania. The lake is elongated, orientated southwest to northeast, and lies in the Eyasi-Wembere branch of the Great Rift Valley.[1]
A screenshot of Lake Eyasi taken from NASA's WorldWind.
The principal inflow is the Sibiti River, which enters the southwestern end. The river may continue to flow somewhat year round, at least in wetter years; the other inflows are all seasonal. The second largest inflow is the Baray, at the northeast. The water carried by the Baray has increased in recent years due to deforestation of the Crater Highlands. The southwest flank of Mount Oldeani, one of the Ngorongoro volcanos, drains directly into the northeast end of the lake. Flow from the Budahaya / Udahaya River, which drains into the Yaeda Swamp to the southeast of the lake, was once second, but has decreased due to water diversion in the Mbulu Highlands. Water flow from the Serengeti is minor; the largest stream is the Sayu.
Seasonal water level fluctuations in the lake are dramatic, though the northwestern shore is constrained by the cliffs of the Serengeti Plateau. During the dry season the lake may dry up almost entirely, especially in drier years, so that Datooga herders and Hadza foragers will cross the lake on foot, but in El Niño years it may flood its banks and attract hippopotamus from the Serengeti. It is a seasonal stop for migrating flamingos. The lake supports minor local fishing in wet years, but more often catfish and lungfish are taken from the streams and springs that feed the lake. Even during wet periods, lake depths typically remain less than one metre.[2]
The Hadza are the indigenous inhabitants of the lake. They are found along most of the perimeter, though camps are few along most of the Serengeti, which is Maasai territory. The Datooga inhabit the Yaeda Valley to the southeast, the Isanzu the south, and the Sukuma across the Sibiti River in the southwest. The Iraqw traditionally lived on the other side of Yaeda, but have come in increasing numbers to the Baray, which is now the primary onion-growing region of East Africa.
Mumba Cave is an archaeological site that is located by the shores of Lake Eyasi. The site has yielded a number of Middle Stone Age and Late Stone Age artifacts.
^Foster, A. and C. Ebinger and E. Mbede and D. Rex (August 1997). "Tectonic development of the northern Tanzanian sector of the East African Rift System". Journal of the Geological Society. 154 (4): 689–700. doi:10.1144/gsjgs.154.4.0689.
^Hughes, R. H.; Hughes, J. S. (1992). A directory of African wetlands. UNEP. p. 253.
LakeEyasi (Swahili: Ziwa Eyasi; formerly German: Njarasasee, "Njarasa Lake", and Hohenlohesee, "Hohenlohe Lake") is a lake located in Karatu District...
within Karatu District in southwest Arusha Region. They live around the LakeEyasi basin in the central Rift Valley and in the neighboring Serengeti Plateau...
shield volcanoes within the Eyasi half-graben, the eastern boundary marked by the Gregory Rift Western Escarpment. The LakeEyasi escarpment bounds the half-graben...
in Kenya, and Lake Natron, Lake Manyara, Lake Burungi, LakeEyasi, Lake Kitangiri, Lake Balangida, Lake Singida, and Lake Sulunga in Tanzania. In the...
of lakes, the largest lake in the region being LakeEyasi. Other prominent lakes in the region are Lake Duluti, Momela Lakes, Lake Manyara, Lake Masek...
A soda lake or alkaline lake is a lake on the strongly alkaline side of neutrality, typically with a pH value between 9 and 12. They are characterized...
Hadza is a language isolate spoken along the shores of LakeEyasi in Tanzania by around 1,000 Hadza people, who include in their number the last full-time...
(Tanzania) LakeEyasi (Tanzania) Lake Barangida (Tanzania) Lake Singida (Tanzania) Lake Sulunga (Tanzania) Lake Rukwa (Tanzania) Lake Chilwa (Malawi) Lake Chiuta...
language of Tanzania, spoken in an area southeast of Lake Victoria between Mwanza, Shinyanga, and LakeEyasi. Its orthography uses Roman script without special...
Isanzu is a Bantu language spoken by the Isanzu people south of LakeEyasi in Tanzania. The position of Isanzu within the Bantu family is uncertain. It...
District of Manyara Region, Tanzania. The Valley is situated south of LakeEyasi. The valley forms an endorheic basin with no drainage outlet. A low ridge...
is a river of northern Tanzania, tributary of Sibiti River, among lakeEyasi and lake Kitangiri. 3°59′S 34°23′E / 3.983°S 34.383°E / -3.983; 34.383...
Sibiti River is a seventy-five-kilometre waterway which connects LakeEyasi and Lake Kitangiri, and one of the few non-man-made canals in the world. The...
European to enter Rwanda (1892). He was also the first European to visit LakeEyasi, Lake Manyara, and Ngorongoro Crater. On the expedition, he explored the...
Tippelskirch brought back the skin of a female Masai giraffe from near LakeEyasi which was later on identified as Giraffa tippelskirchi. Alternative taxonomic...
Also the genus suggested for a number of archaic human skulls found at LakeEyasi by Weinert (1938). Leaky, Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society'...
Southern Cushitic speakers are located in north central Tanzania near LakeEyasi. Their past distribution, as determined by the presence of loanwords in...
Also the genus suggested for a number of archaic human skulls found at LakeEyasi by Weinert (1938). Leaky, Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society...
new species of annual killifish with two male colour morphs from the LakeEyasi Basin, Central Tanzania. Killi-Data Series, 2015: 17-30. Ng'oma, E., Valdesalici...
north-central Tanzania. The Mbulu Highlands lie between the basins of LakeEyasi to the west and Lake Manyara to the east. The plateau ranges from 1500 to 2300 meters...
major lakes. Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika are part of the two great lakes in that nation, with Lake Victoria being the largest freshwater lake in Africa...
anti-language. Hadza 1,000 Vulnerable Tanzania Spoken on the southern shore of LakeEyasi in the southwest of Arusha Region. Once listed as an outlier among the...
Balangida Lake Balangida Lelu Lake Burunge basin Tarangire River LakeEyasi basin Sibiti River Lake Kitangiri Wembere River Manonga River Lake Manyara basin...
Global Information
