Lake Opeta

Lake Opeta is a lake with an extensive wetland system in Uganda.

Lake Opeta
Kyoga Lake Complex with the Opeta (right)
LocationNakapiripirit, Sironko, Katakwi, Kumi
Coordinates1°42′0″N 34°14′0″E
Primary outflowsLake Bisina
Basin countriesUganda
Surface area68,912 hectares (170,290 acres)
Surface elevation1,962 metres (6,437 ft)
IslandsTisai
Official nameLake Opeta Wetland System
Designated15 September 2006
Reference no.1636[1]

The wetland lies south of the Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve and serves as a dry-season refuge for both wildlife from the park and domestic cattle of the surrounding Karamajong and Pokot people.[2]

Hydrology

Lake Opeta is primarily fed by rainfall on Mount Elgon and drains into Lake Kyoga via Lake Bisina. It is surrounded by an extensive swamp and floodplain.[3]

Conservation

Lake Opeta is one of Uganda's 33 Important Bird Areas and since 2006 a Ramsar-listed wetland of international importance.[2]

A Biodiversity and Eco-Tourism Centre funded by the Global Environmental Facility and UNDP serves the lake.[4]

Lake Opeta and its surrounding swamps are located in eastern Uganda, 25km north-east of Kumi town. The Ramsar site stands 1,050 m above sea level and covers an area of 68,913 hectares. The wetland system represents the easternmost part of the Lake Kyoga basin. It occupies an extensive floodplain between the Lake Bisina Ramsar Site (which it drains towards Lake Kyoga) to the west and the base of Mount Elgon, a massive extinct volcanic massif, to the south-east. The Lake Opeta wetlands marks the southern limits of the vast, arid region of Karamoja which extends along Uganda’s eastern flank between Mount Elgon and the distant Sudan border, nearly 300km to the north.[5]

Birds

Fox's weaver, Uganda's only endemic bird species, is known to inhabit the wetland,[2] as do the globally threatened vulnerable shoebill, near-threatened papyrus gonolek, and 160 other species.[3]

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References
  1. "Lake Opeta Wetland System". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  2. Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. "The Annotated Ramsar List: Uganda". Archived from the original on 7 January 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  3. Byaruhanga, Achilles; Kigolo, Stephen (2005). Lake Opeta Wetland System Ramsar Information Sheet (PDF). Kampala.
  4. International Union for Conservation of Nature. "Commissioned in the Lake Opeta Ramsar Site". Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  5. Petridis, D.; Sinis, A. (1997), "The benthic fauna of Lake Mikri Prespa", Lake Prespa, Northwestern Greece, Springer Netherlands, pp. 95–105, ISBN 978-94-010-6179-7, retrieved 2020-05-30


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