The waters of Lake Tanganyika, the longest and after Lake Baikal in Siberia, second deepest freshwater lake in the world, contain one of the richest concentration of fish found anywhere. More than 300 different species live within it. Many are endemic to the lake but are more frequently seen, worldwide, in home aquariums. Gombe Stream National Park and Mahale Mountains National Park border the lake’s shores.
Lake Tanganyika lies along the chain of lakes on the bottom of the Western Great Rift Valley, occupying the southern end of the western Rift Valley and bordered by Tanzania, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.
Lake Tanganyika is outstanding for its extraordinary north-south extension (677 km) and depth (1,436 m). It is the second largest of African lakes, the second deepest (next to Lake Baikal in central Russia) and the longest lake of the world.
Its very ancient origin, only competitor by such old lakes as Baikal, and a long period of isolation resulted in the evolution of a great number of indigenous organisms, including brilliantly colored cichlid fishes, well-known gastropods with the appearance of marine snails, and so on.
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