Lake Chala

Lake Chala, also known as  Lake Challa, is a crater lake that straddles the border between Kenya and Tanzania. The lake formed approximately 250,000 years ago. The lake is east of Mount Kilimanjaro, 8 km north of Taveta, Kenya, and 55 km east of Rombo District. The lake is surrounded by a steep crater rim with a maximum height of 170 m.

Lake Chala's average annual rainfall is about 565 mm. The lake surface has an average annual evaporation of near 1735 mm. Approximately 80 percent of the lake's inflow comes from groundwater, which is derived mostly from rainfall in the montane forest zone of Mount Kilimanjaro at an elevation of 1800 to 2800 m. It takes about 3 months for groundwater to reach the lake. The groundwater flowed into the lake at an estimated annual volume of 8390000 m3 from 1964 through 1977.

Ecology


The only native fish in this lake is the Lake Chala tilapia (Oreochromis hunteri), which is found nowhere else in the world. It is considered critically endangered by the IUCN, and now greatly outnumbered by other tilapia species that have been introduced to Lake Chala.

An 18 year old British woman was killed in 2002 by a relatively small Nile crocodile while swimming at night in the lake. A few days later, the Kenya Police Service said that the lake was "infested" with crocodiles, while the Kenya Wildlife Service said, "Crocodiles are found in Lake Chala and it is not regarded as safe to swim at all."