Lake Kivu Tour

Lake Kivu is a well-known national landmark and tourist attraction in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Similar to Lake Tanganyika, Lake Kivu is another African great lake. It touches Rwanda and of course, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and flows towards Lake Tanganyika after passing the Albertine Rift. Lake Kivu has an area of 2,700 square kilometers with a length of 89 kilometers or 55 miles. The width of the lake is 48 kilometers or 30 miles.

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Lake Kivu is a freshwater lake and, along with Cameroonian Lake Nyos and Lake Monoun, is one of three that are known to undergo limnic eruptions. Around the lake, geologists found evidence of massive local extinctions about every thousand years, presumably caused by outgassing events. The trigger for lake overturns in Lake Kivu is unknown, but volcanic activity is suspected.

The gaseous chemical composition of exploding lakes is unique to each lake. In Lake Kivu's case, it includes methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2), as a result of lake water interaction with volcanic hot springs.

Lake Kivu has a rough, jagged coast and contains numerous islands, the largest of which is Idjwi. It was at one time part of a larger body of water that filled a structural trough in the Earth. Volcanic outpourings along its northern shore created a dam that separated Kivu from Lake Edward (Lake Idi Amin Dada), barred Kivu’s northern outflow, and reversed its drainage to the south through the Ruzizi (Rusizi) River into Lake Tanganyika.

The Mururu hydroelectric dam was completed at the Ruzizi River’s outlet in 1958. Kivu’s shores are densely populated, the principal towns being Bukavu and Goma in Congo and Gisenyi (Kisenyi) in Rwanda. The first European to visit the lake was the German explorer Count Adolf von Götzen in 1894. Although it is supplied with fish, the lake is poor in fauna but rich in volcanic substances. Great volumes of dissolved methane gases that may be developed as energy sources exist in its deep waters.