Lake MalawiAfrica's second deepest lake and a world record for fish diversity
A Rift Valley trough with a fish-species record.
- Surface area
- 29,500 km²
- Water volume
- 8,400 km³
- Max depth
- 706 m
See its true size
One shared area scaleBoth outlines share one area scale. The bars compare water volume.
Reference data: Encyclopædia Britannica: jezioro Bajkał (2024).
Simplified outlines: Natural Earth (public domain), reprojected to one shared scale.
among the 18 lakes in this section
Malawi is Africa's second deepest lake and the record holder for fish diversity. It holds more than three times as much water as the larger Lake Victoria.
The map intuition
Another African rift lake, like Tanganyika.
About the lake
Malawi (Nyasa) fills a long trough at the southern end of the East African Rift. It reaches 706 m, making it Africa's second deepest lake after Tanganyika. Across 29,500 km², it holds 8,400 km³ of water.
The lake is renowned for biodiversity. UNESCO reports that it contains more fish species than any other lake on Earth, including hundreds of cichlid species. Most are found nowhere else.
- Mean depth
- 292 m
- Surface elevation
- 468 m a.s.l.
- Location
- Malawi / Mozambique / Tanzania
- Type
- rift (tectonic) lake
Where the lake is
Lake Malawi: Questions
UNESCO identifies Lake Malawi as the record holder. It contains hundreds of fish species, mainly cichlids, and most occur nowhere else.
It reaches 706 m. That makes it Africa's second deepest lake after Tanganyika, which reaches 1,470 m, and one of the deepest lakes in the world.
About 8,400 km³ across 29,500 km². That is more than three times the volume of the much larger Lake Victoria.
Sources and data year
- Encyclopædia Britannica: Malawi (Niasa) (2024)
- UNESCO: Lake Malawi National Park and fish diversity (2024)
Outline: Natural Earth, public domain. Simplified and reprojected.