With a surface area of approximately 68,800 km2 (26,600 sq mi),Lake Victoria is Africa’s largest lake by area, the world’s largest tropical lake, and the world’s second largest fresh water lake by surface area, after Lake Superior in North America. In terms of volume, Lake Victoria is the world’s ninth largest continental lake, containing about 2,750 cubic kilometres (2.23×109 acre·ft) of water.

Lake Victoria receives its water primarily from direct rainfall and thousands of small streams. The Kagera River is the largest river flowing into this lake, with its mouth on the lake’s western shore. Lake Victoria is drained solely by the Nile River near Jinja, Uganda, on the lake’s northern shore.

Lake Victoria occupies a shallow depression in Africa; it has a maximum depth of 84 m (276 ft) and an average depth of 40 m (130 ft)