Lake Albert

 Lake Albert was named after Prince Albert by the explorer Samuel Baker who discovered it in 1864. It is the seventh largest lake in Africa and is the most northern of the lakes found in the Great Rift Valley. The lake is located on the border between Uganda and Congo with the border between the countries splitting the lake in half lengthwise.

When Baker discovered it, he thought he had finally found the source of the Nile, but the lake itself is fed by a more southern river. The Semliki River that empties Lake Edward to the south feeds the 1,640 square miles of surface water that makes up Lake Albert. At the northern tip of the lake the water empties out into a branch of the White Nile. This water is joined by water from the Victoria Nile and becomes the Albert Nile. The Albert Nile continues north into Sudan where it again spreads out, but this time into the vast Sudd.

MODIS image of the lakes of the Great Rift Valley and Lake Victoria. Red squares show fires.