Lake Tanganyika

Tanganyika doesn’t belong to Tanzania alone - she shares the lake with Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi. But it is Tanzania’s Tanganyika that many consider the most beautiful – it’s a perfectly clear, dazzlingly blue stretch of water, stretching all the way to the mountains of Congo on the far shore, and lined with perfect white beaches. Soft white sand slopes gently towards the endless shimmer of the turquoise lake, a body of water so pure that the hippos that live along its shores can be clearly seen walking along the bottom. Lake Tanganyika is a must-see destination for many aquatic scientists, who come here to study the lakes myriad species of cichlid fish These gaily-coloured tropical fish are a favourite of aquarium owners the world over, due to their high intelligence (relative to other fish, that is!). Tanganyika holds nearly 300 species, of which an incredible 98% are actually endemic (or only found in the lake). Visitors to Lake Tanganyika, can snorkel alongside these celebrated inhabitants in the lake’s beautiful, gin-clear waters. The lake’s thickly forested shores make boat the easiest method in the region. The largest passenger vessel to ply the lake is the celebrated steamer MV Liemba, a former German warship sunk by the British in World War One and then resurrected after the war as a passenger vessel.