Lake Tele

Lake Tele
Coordinates 1°20′N 17°9′E / 1.333°N 17.150°E / 1.333; 17.150Coordinates: 1°20′N 17°9′E / 1.333°N 17.150°E / 1.333; 17.150
Basin countries Republic of the Congo
Max. length 8 km
Max. width 6 km
Average depth 4 m

Lake Tele (French Lac Télé) is a freshwater lake located in the north-east of the Republic of the Congo. It is located at 1°20′N 17°9′E / 1.333°N 17.150°E / 1.333; 17.150.

Lake Tele was formed in Pliocene alluvial sediments by an unknown geological process, and is surrounded by the Likouala swamp forests which are gradually covering it. There are no significant inlets or outlets in the lake. The water of Lake Tele is turbid, it has high content of organic materials and is acidic (pH < 4).[1] The swamp forests around the lake have not yet been exhaustively explored.

Surveys conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society in 2006 and 2007 found more than 100,000 previously unreported gorillas have been living in the swamp forests of Lake Tele Community Reserve and in neighbouring Marantaceae (dryland) forests in the Republic of the Congo.[2]

Lake Tele is the best known home of the Mokèlé-mbèmbé (purportedly a large, unidentified reptilian creature), and is also supposedly the spot where pygmies killed and ate one of the creatures in about 1959.

The 1996 book Congo Journey, by British travel writer Redmond O'Hanlon, describes in some detail his journey through Congo to Lake Tele in search of Mokèlé-mbèmbé, as well as giving a rich description of local fauna, flora and Congolese cultural practices and relations with the indigenous Pygmy peoples.

References

  1. ↑ "Lake Tele". Wondermondo.
  2. ↑ CNN (2008-08-05). "More than 100,000 rare gorillas found in Congo". CNN. Retrieved 2009-09-22.


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