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RUKWA (sometimes also Rikwa and Hikwa) , a shallow lake inSee also: German See also: East See also: Africa, lying 2650 ft. above the See also: sea in a N.W. continuation of the rift-valley which contains Lake See also: Nyasa
.
The sides of the valley here run in steep parallel walls 30 to 40 M. apart, from S.E. to N.W., leaving between them a level plain extending from about 71° to 81° S
.
This whole See also: area was probably once covered by the lake, but this has shrunk so that the permanent See also: water occupies only a space of 30 M. by 12 at the S. immediately under the E. escarpment
.
In the rains its extends some 40 M. farther N., and the See also: north of the plain is likewise then covered with water to a See also: depth of about 4 ft
.
The rest of the plain is a See also: bare expanse intensely heated by the See also: sun in the dry season, and forming a See also: tract of foul mud near the lake shores
.
But in 1903–4 the level of the lake See also: rose so that the See also: waters covered the whole depression
.
The lake has two large feeders, one coming from the W., the other from the S.E
.
The W. feeder, the Saisi, or Momba, rises in 8o° 50' S., 310 30' E., and traverses a winding valley cut out of the high See also: plateau between lakes Nyasa and Tanganyika
.
It enters the lake on its N.W. See also: side
.
The other chief feeder, the Songwe, rises in 9° 8' S., 330 30' E. on the same plateau as the Saisi and flows N.W., entering Rukwa at its S. end
.
The Songwe is joined about 5o M. about its mouth by the Rupa, whose See also: head-waters are in the high-lying See also: land N.E. of Rukwa
.
The maximum depth of the lake is about roe ft
.
Its water is very brackish and of a milky colour from the mud stirred up by theSee also: wind
.
It contains See also: great quantities of See also: fish
.
First seen from the north by See also: Joseph See also: Thomson in 188o, it was visited by Dr Kaiser, a German, in 1882, and has since been thoroughly explored by various See also: British and German travellers
.
See " Begleitworte zu der Karte der Gebiete am sudlichen Tanganjika- and Rukwa-See," by See also: Paul Sprigade, in Mitteil. v
.
Forsch. u
.
Gelehrten a. d. deutschen Schutzgebieten (Berlin, 1904), with map on the See also: scale of 1:500,000
.
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