NYASA, LAKE

Fishing boat on Lake Nyasa (also called Lake Malawi). also called Lake Malawi, lake, southernmost and third largest of the East African Rift Valley lakes of East Africa, lying in a deep trough mainly within Malawi. The lake's middle line and its northern and eastern shores form much of Malawi's boundary with Tanzania and Mozambique. Its north-south length is 363 mi (584 km), its width varies from 10 to 50 mi, and its area is 11,430 sq mi (29,604 sq km). The surface of the lake is 1,550 ft (472 m) above sea level, and the depth increases to 2,310 ft toward the northern end, where the forested Livingstone Mountains to the east and the Nyika Plateau and Viphya Highlands to the west fall precipitously down to the lakeshore. A fresh southeasterly wind (the mwera) prevails from May to August, causing short gales and restless waters; the coastline offers little shelter. Halfway up the lake is Likoma Island, a mission headquarters and site of an imposing Anglican cathedral (completed 1911). On the heavily populated Malawi shore there are government stations at Mangochi, Nkhotakota, Nkhata Bay, and Karonga. Nyasa (meaning lake) is fed by 14 perennial rivers, the largest being the Ruhuhu; the sole outlet is the Shire River, a tributary of the Zambezi. Of about 200 recorded species of fish, about 80 percent are endemic, being isolated from the Zambezi fauna by the Kabalega Falls. Commercial fisheries exist at the southern end of the lake, based chiefly on the freshwater fish Tilapia; fly hatches on the lake occur in clouds large enough to obscure the horizon. Passenger and cargo vessels are operated by the Malawi Railways company. Cotton, rubber, rice, tung oil, and peanuts (groundnuts) are shipped to the railhead at Chipoka in the south, from which point the railway connects through the city of Limbe with Beira, Mozambique. The existence of the lake was reported by a Portuguese, Caspar Boccaro, in 1616. David Livingstone, the British explorer-missionary, reached it from the south in 1859.