Which West African lake actually dried up
Faguibine, not Victoria, Volta, or Oguta
Lake Faguibine
In Mali, largely dried up, now desert-like terrain.
Lake Victoria
Wrong continent entirely. East Africa, not West Africa, still one of the world’s largest lakes.
Lake Volta
In Ghana, a huge artificial reservoir, still full, still West Africa’s largest lake.
Lake Oguta
In Nigeria, a genuine, still-existing freshwater lake, unrelated to Faguibine.
Which West African Lake Actually Dried Up?
Must KnowFaguibine, Not Victoria, Volta, or Oguta
- Lake Faguibine, in Mali, has largely dried up. Much of its former lakebed is now desert-like terrain.
- Lake Victoria sits in East Africa, not West Africa, and remains one of the world’s largest freshwater lakes.
- Lake Volta, in Ghana, is a huge artificial reservoir. It remains full and is still West Africa’s largest lake.
- Lake Oguta, in Nigeria, is a genuine, still-existing freshwater lake, a different, unrelated lake from Faguibine.
Q1. True or False: Lake Faguibine, in Mali, has largely dried up into desert-like terrain.
Q2. True or False: Lake Victoria, the lake that dried up in this question, sits in West Africa.
Q3. True or False: Lake Volta, Ghana’s huge reservoir, has also dried up like Faguibine.
How Faguibine Dried Up, and What Comes Next
Good to KnowA Niger River Channel, Cut Off by Drought
- Faguibine was historically fed by a channel connecting it to the Niger River, once making it one of West Africa’s largest freshwater lakes.
- Repeated Sahel droughts since the 1970s, combined with silting of its feeder channel, cut off the lake’s water supply.
- Communities who once fished and farmed around Faguibine lost their livelihoods as the lake dried, forcing many to migrate elsewhere.
Q4. True or False: The Niger River historically fed Lake Faguibine, before drought and siltation cut off its supply.
Q5. True or False: Repeated Sahel droughts beginning in the 1970s are most associated with Faguibine’s decline.
Restoration Attempts and Wider Context
- Mali’s government and international partners have tried dredging the Kondi channel to restore Niger River flow into Faguibine, with limited and uneven success.
- NASA satellite imagery has documented Faguibine’s decades-long shrinkage, making it a frequently cited real-world example of desertification on the edge of The Sahara Desert.
- Faguibine sits within the wider Sahel belt covered in The Geography of Africa.
Q6. True or False: Mali has attempted dredging the Kondi channel to help restore water flow into Lake Faguibine.
Think it through, before reading on. Lake Volta is also in West Africa and faces its own environmental pressures. So why doesn’t Volta get picked as the “dried up” lake instead of Faguibine?
Show the explanation
Lake Volta is a huge artificial reservoir, created by damming the Volta River for hydropower. It remains full and is still West Africa’s largest lake by surface area, even though reservoir levels can fluctuate with rainfall. Faguibine, by contrast, lost its actual water source when its feeder channel from the Niger River silted up during repeated Sahel droughts, and has never been artificially replenished the way a dammed reservoir can be.
Remember the trap. Faguibine dried up. Victoria, Volta, and Oguta did not.
Quick Q&A
Which West African lake has largely dried up?
Lake Faguibine, in Mali.
Which river historically fed Lake Faguibine?
The Niger River, through a channel now silted up.
When did the Sahel droughts most linked to Faguibine’s decline begin?
The 1970s.
What has Mali attempted to restore Faguibine’s water flow?
Dredging the Kondi channel, with limited success.
Previous Year Question
PYQA Lake That Turned Into Desert
- UPSC CSP 2022, GS Paper I — the question asked which West African lake had turned into a desert. Lake Faguibine, in Mali, is the West African lake that has dried up and turned into a desert. Lake Victoria is in East Africa, not West Africa. Lake Volta and Lake Oguta both remain real, existing lakes. (Correct answer: Lake Faguibine.)
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