Lake · Rwanda · DR Congo
Lake Kivu
Meromictic lake in the East African Rift valley
- Area
- 2,401km²
- Max depth
- 485m
- Average depth
- 237m
- Elevation
- 1,461m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 1,190km
- Volume
- 569km³
Lake Kivu is a lake in Rwanda. It covers 2,401 km². On average it is 237 m deep, and 485 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 1,461 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake Kivu?
The water is warmest in February, around 24 °C at the surface, and coldest in July, around 23 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from January to December: comfortable for most swimmers.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 24 °C on average in February and 22 °C in May. The driest month is July (38 mm of rain), the wettest November (196 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (78 readings). Shallow bays and beaches are often warmer.
From above
The whole lake from space
Month by month
The year at the lake, month by month
Not a forecast: these are averages over many years. Water is the 2013–2021 average; air, rain, sun and wind are the 1991–2020 average.
Water: 2013–2021 averageClimate: 1991–2020 average
| Month | Water°C | Water high°C | Air high°C | Air low°C | Rainmm | Rainy daysdays | Sunh/day | Windkm/h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24 | 24 | 24 | 17 | 126 | 20 | 5.4 | 8 |
| February | 24 | 24 | 24 | 18 | 132 | 18 | 5.6 | 8 |
| March | 24 | 24 | 24 | 17 | 191 | 24 | 5.3 | 8 |
| April | 24 | 24 | 23 | 17 | 191 | 25 | 5.2 | 10 |
| May | 23 | 23 | 22 | 16 | 141 | 22 | 5.7 | 12 |
| June | 23 | 23 | 22 | 16 | 61 | 9 | 6.2 | 12 |
| July | 23 | 23 | 23 | 15 | 38 | 6 | 6.6 | 11 |
| August | 23 | 23 | 24 | 16 | 80 | 11 | 5.9 | 11 |
| September | 23 | 23 | 24 | 17 | 118 | 17 | 5.8 | 10 |
| October | 24 | 24 | 24 | 17 | 164 | 22 | 5.2 | 10 |
| November | 24 | 24 | 23 | 17 | 196 | 26 | 4.9 | 9 |
| December | 24 | 24 | 23 | 17 | 149 | 23 | 5.2 | 8 |
Water: LakeTEMP (Landsat 8, 2013–2021). Air, rain, sun and wind: NASA POWER, 1991–2020 averages. A rainy day has at least 1 mm of rain. Sunshine hours are derived from measured solar radiation.
Size & depth
How big, how deep
- On average, water stays in the lake for about 280 years before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 7,422 km² of land.
- About 64 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
- Its shoreline is 6.8 times longer than a circle of the same area: plenty of bays and inlets.
Around the shore
What's around Lake Kivu
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 11beaches and swimming spots
- 6campsites
Camping Bethanie, La Bella campsite, Discover Rwanda, Cyimbiri basecamp, Iliza Kivu Village and 1 more
- —boat hire and water-sport clubs
- 1marinas and slipways
- 10ferry piers
Ferry Port, Ihusi Express – speedboat to Goma and 8 more
- 18viewpoints
Norbi's viewpoint Kibuye, Kings Island, Home St Jean, Sunrise Spot and 14 more
- 175hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Centre Bethanie, Moriah Hill Hotel, Stipphotel, Lake View Hotel, La Corniche and 170 more
- —fishing spots
- 79restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Bukavu816,811 people
- Gisenyi172,357 people
- Goma78,200 people
- Kibuye48,024 people
- Cyangugu43,866 people
- Kirambo40,341 people
- Kagano39,994 people
- Macuba33,319 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Goma International Airport (GOM), 16 km in a straight line.
OpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: when a number is low, it may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Recent years
How each month compared
Afternoon high on the shore. The first row is the reference, the 1991–2020 average in °C; the years below show the difference from it: warmer in orange, cooler in blue.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991–2020 average | 23.6 | 24.3 | 23.8 | 22.8 | 22.3 | 22.4 | 23.1 | 23.9 | 24.1 | 23.5 | 22.9 | 23.2 |
| 2020 | −0.5 | −0.6 | −0.6 | −0.4 | +0.3 | −1.1 | −1.8 | −0.6 | −0.2 | −0.1 | −0.3 | ±0.0 |
| 2021 | −1.1 | −1.1 | −0.8 | −0.4 | ±0.0 | −0.6 | −1.0 | −0.6 | −0.3 | +0.8 | +0.6 | −0.1 |
| 2022 | −0.3 | −1.7 | +0.1 | −0.1 | −0.2 | −0.8 | −0.8 | −1.1 | −1.0 | +0.1 | −0.8 | −0.4 |
| 2023 | +0.3 | +1.1 | −0.3 | +0.4 | +1.1 | +1.0 | +1.7 | +2.5 | +1.2 | +2.3 | +0.8 | +0.7 |
| 2024 | −0.5 | +0.5 | +0.8 | +0.6 | +1.6 | +1.9 | +2.2 | +2.4 | +2.8 | +0.7 | +0.1 | +0.1 |
| 2025 | −0.1 | +1.6 | +1.3 | +1.1 | +0.7 | +1.3 | +1.3 | +0.3 | +1.6 | +1.4 | +2.3 | +2.2 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Uganda
BurundiAbout these numbers
| Outline, area, depth, volume | HydroLAKES v1.0 (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0 |
|---|---|
| Water temperature and ice | LakeTEMP v1 (Korver et al. 2024), Landsat 8 2013–2021 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Air, rain, sun, wind | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 · public domain |
| Names and description | Wikidata (Q125912) · CC0 |
| Around the shore | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
