Lake Guinas

Lake Guinas
Coordinates 19°13′59″S 17°21′10″E / 19.232918°S 17.352648°E / -19.232918; 17.352648Coordinates: 19°13′59″S 17°21′10″E / 19.232918°S 17.352648°E / -19.232918; 17.352648
Basin countries Namibia
Surface area 0.66 ha[1]
Average depth 105 m
Max. depth 130 m
Water volume 693000 m3

Lake Guinas is the larger of only two permanent natural lakes in Namibia. It is a sinkhole lake, created by a collapsing karst cave;[1] it is located thirty-eight kilometres west of Tsumeb, near the D3043 road.

Lake Guinas is home to Tilapia guinasana, a mouth-breeding species of fish that was endemic to this lake. It has later been introduced to Guinas' sister lake, Lake Otjikoto, as well as into few farm dams nearby.[2] The claim that lake Guinas is indeed connected to lake Otjikoto by underground caves is frequently made but not proven as yet.[1]

The lake is situated on private farmland but can be visited with the permission of the owner.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Irish, John (1991). "Conservation aspects of karst waters in Namibia". Madoqua. 17.2: 141–146.
  2. ↑ Tilapia guinasana The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Tilapia guinasana


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/14/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.