Once one of West Africa’s largest freshwater lakes, Lake Faguibine in Mali has largely dried up. A 2022 UPSC question asked which West African lake had turned into a desert. This article covers Faguibine’s decline, and why the other three options were distractors.
NASA satellite image of Lake Faguibine, Mali, showing its dried, desert-like basin. Photo: NASA, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain.
MCQ QuestionsWorldGeo0062 · Lake Faguibine, Mali
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Lake Faguibine, once one of West Africa’s largest freshwater lakes, has largely dried up
Sahel drought and channel siltation cut off its Niger River water supply.
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River that historically fed Faguibine through the Kondi channel
Physical Geography
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Decades of severe Sahel drought that began the lake’s decline
Sahel Climate Records
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Lake Victoria’s real location, a common distractor in this question
Physical Geography
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Home of Lake Volta, still full and West Africa’s largest lake
Physical Geography
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Channel Mali has tried dredging to restore Faguibine’s water flow
Restoration Efforts
✊ Must Know
Which West African Lake Actually Dried Up
- Lake Faguibine Lake Faguibine, in Mali, has largely dried up. Much of its former lakebed is now desert-like terrain.
- Not Lake Victoria Lake Victoria sits in East Africa, not West Africa, and remains one of the world's largest freshwater lakes.
- Not Lake Volta Lake Volta, in Ghana, is a huge artificial reservoir. It remains full and is still West Africa's largest lake.
📘 Good to Know
How Faguibine Dried Up
- Fed by the Niger Faguibine was historically fed by a channel connecting it to the Niger River, once making it one of West Africa's largest freshwater lakes.
- Drought and siltation Repeated Sahel droughts since the 1970s and 1980s, combined with silting of its feeder channel, cut off the lake's water supply.
- A displaced community Communities who once fished and farmed around Faguibine lost their livelihoods as the lake dried, forcing many to migrate elsewhere.
Test Yourself
🌟 Great to Know
The Other Options, and What Comes Next
- Lake Oguta is a distractor Lake Oguta, in Nigeria, is a genuine, still-existing freshwater lake. It is a different, unrelated lake from Faguibine.
- Restoration attempts Mali's government and international partners have tried dredging the Kondi channel to restore Niger River flow into Faguibine, with limited and uneven success.
- A visible climate case study NASA satellite imagery has documented Faguibine's decades-long shrinkage, making it a frequently cited real-world example of Sahel desertification.
📝 Previous Year Questions
A Lake That Turned Into Desert
- Answer: (b) Lake Faguibine, in Mali, is the West African lake that has dried up and turned into a desert.
- Why the others are wrong Lake Victoria is in East Africa, not West Africa. Lake Volta and Lake Oguta both remain real, existing lakes.
- View this question on the full 2022 paper →
Beyond the answer
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