The lakes of Africa are in two main types: those caused by gentle warping of the surface and those occupying rift valley floor.

The lakes of the Great Rift Valley are mostly long and relatively narrow and deep. One of these lakes, Tanganyika is the longest fresh water lake in the world. It is 420 miles (620 Km) long and more 1430 metres deep. Other rift valley lakes include Lake Malawi, Albert and Turkana. Most of these lakes are located in East Africa.

A river in a flood plain forming an Ox bow lake and a lagoon
One greatest of the lakes produced by warping is Lake Victoria. It is broad, shallow, and has an intricate coastline with many islands. It covers 26,828 Square miles (69,486 Square kilometres) and is second in size only to Lake Superior among the world’s fresh water lakes.

Others are lake Kyoga, Lake Chad, as well as the reduced lakes and pans Makarikari, Okavango and Etosha in Botswana. There are however, other small lakes of small types such as lagoons, glacial lakes, man made lakes.