Lake Malawi Trivia Quiz

Answer: Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique

Lake Malawi forms the eastern border of the long thin country of Malawi. The eastern portion of the lake borders Mozambique and Tanzania lays claim to a small stretch at the northern end of the lake.

Answer: False

Lake Tanganyika is the deepest lake in Africa and the second deepest in the world at 1,435 metres (4,708 feet). Lake Malawi is second in Africa and fourth in the world at 706 metres (2316 feet). By way of contrast, Africa's largest lake, Lake Victoria has a maximum depth of only 84 metres (276 feet).

Answer: Shire

The Shire flows for 402 kilometres through southern Malawi and Mozambique where it empties into the Zambezi. The Ruhuhu is the lake's longest headstream and flows into the north of the lake. The Lukuga drains Lake Tanganyika on its way to the Congo River.

Answer: Lake Nyasa

This was the name given to the lake by David Livingstone, the first European to see the lake. The other three are all artificial lakes created behind dams of the same name in Mozambique (Cahora Bassa), Zimbabwe/Zambia (Kariba) and Zambia (Itezhi-Tezhi).

Answer: Chula

Chula is the largest island of the Bajuni islands in the Indian Ocean off southern Somalia.

Chizumulu is a Malawian island within Mozambiquan territorial waters.

Mumbo and Domwe are islands within the Lake Malawi National Park off Cape Maclear.

Answer: Cape Maclear

Cape Maclear (Chembe Village) is a fishing village and tourist destination at the Southern end of the lake. Monkey Bay is a port town lying just outside the park.

Nkhotakota and Nkhata Bay are at the north of the lake.

Answer: Chambo

The other three are cichlid species. Cichlid are tropical freshwater fish which are often harvested for live sale as aquarium fish.

Local fishermen catch chambo by using a net strung between a boat and a dugout canoe. The fish are attracted by one or more gas lanterns on the back of a third canoe which paddles into the middle of the net drawing the fish behind it. Before gas lanterns were available, a fire was lit on the canoe. From the shore it seems as if the stars have come to swim on the surface of the lake.

Answer: True

In Malawi they claim that this was the first naval engagement of WW1, but I couldn't corroborate that.

From Wikipedia: "In 1914, the lake saw a brief naval engagement when a British ship, on hearing that WWI had begun, sank a German ship in Deutsch Ost-Afrika territorial waters."

Deutsch Ost-Afrika (German East Africa) was the then name of what is now known as Tanzania.

Answer: Lake Chilwa

Lake Chilwa is the southernmost of all Rift Valley lakes and lies in South Eastern Malawi. All of the other lakes are in Kenya.

Answer: Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria lies in a shallow depression between land pushed up by the Western and Eastern Rift of the Great Rift Valley and is not actually a Rift Valley Lake. The Great Rift Valley begins in Beqaa Valley Lebanon and extends south through Israel/Jordan (Sea of Galilee/Dead Sea), and then makes its way down through the African continent terminating in Mozambique. It passes through Lake Natron on its way through Tanzania.

I hope you've enjoyed my first quiz.