'Lake Nasser' (
Arabic: بØÙŠØ±Ø© ناصر;
transliterated: Buhayrat Nasir) is a vast
reservoir in southern
Egypt and northern
Sudan. Strictly, "Lake Nasser" refers only to the much larger portion of the lake that is in Egyptian territory (83% of the total), with the Sudanese preferring to call their smaller body of water 'Lake Nubia'.
It was created as a result of the construction of the
Aswan High Dam across the waters of the
Nile between
1958 and
1970.
The lake is some 550 km long and 35 km across at its widest point, which is near the
Tropic of Cancer.
It covers a total surface area of
5,250 km² and has a storage capacity of some
157 km³ of water.
The rising waters of the dam required major relocation projects that were carried out during the
1960s.
Several important
Nubian archaeological sites were dismantled block by block and moved to higher ground, most notably
Abu Simbel. The Sudanese river-port and railway terminal of
Wadi Halfa was lost beneath the waters and a new town was built in its place;
and Egypt's entire
Nubian community from the upper reaches of the Nile – numbering several hundred thousand people – saw their villages disappear and were forced to relocate.
The Egyptian name is in honor of President
Gamal Abdel Nasser, who was the mastermind behind the controversial High Dam project.
Rising lake levels through the
1990s resulted in spilling over of waters westwards into the
Sahara Desert, forming the
Toshka Lakes beginning in 1998.
Ferries take passengers and road vehicles between
Aswan in Egypt and Wadi Halfa, from where the railway goes to
Khartoum, capital of Sudan. As it is prohibited to cross the Sudan-Egypt border on land, and no paved roads connect the countries anyway, the ferries are the only alternative to air travel, and currently they constitute a link in the
Cairo-Cape Town Highway.
Sportfishing in the lake
Sportfishing among tourists especially after
Nile Perch has become increasingly popular, this fish
attacks
fishing lures, these large fishes are caught both on the shore and from boats.
References
1. http://www.ilec.or.jp/database/afr/dsafr014.html
See also
★
Aswan Dam