Lake Nasser

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(Redirected from Lake Nubia)

Lake Nasser
View from Abu Simbel
Map showing the location of the lake
Coordinates	22°25′N 31°45′ECoordinates: 22°25′N 31°45′E
Lake type	Reservoir
Primary sources	Nile
Primary outflows	Nile
Basin countries	Egypt, Sudan
Max length	550 km
Max width	35 km
Surface area	5,250 km²
Average depth	25.2 m
Max depth	130 m
Water volume	132 km³^[1]
Shore length¹	7,844 km
Surface elevation	183 m
¹ Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Lake Nasser (Arabic: بحيرة 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 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.