Lake Rukwa

Lake Rukwa lies in a rift trough southeast of Lake Tanganyika, below the steep Ufipa Plateau. Shallow and alkaline, it has no outlet to the sea; water entering from rivers and streams is lost chiefly through evaporation. Its shoreline changes greatly with rainfall, and in dry periods grassy ground can divide the basin into separate bodies of water. At the northern end, the Rungwa and smaller streams spread into a broad, shallow delta fringed by reeds and papyrus.