Lake Eyasi (formerly German: Njarasasee, "Njarasa Lake", and
Hohenlohe Lake") 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.
A screenshot of
Lake Eyasi taken from World Wind.
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.
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
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
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):
^ Hughes, R. H.; Hughes, J. S. (1992). A directory of African
wetlands. UNEP. p. 253.
Lakes of Tanzania