Lake Kivu stretches across the entire western border of Rwanda; to the west of the lake (directly across in this picture) is the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The border town of Cyangugu on the shores of the lake separates the DRC from Rwanda.
As beautiful as it is, the lake has some serious issues – one of which is methane gas buildup. When I first heard this, it reminded me of Lake Nyos in Cameroon which eventually had so much gas buildup it exploded and hundreds of people in the surrounding villages died of carbon dioxide asphyxiation.
Rwanda is taking measures to subdue the buildup before it becomes too late. There is a power plant on the shore near the town of Kibuye which is working to turn the gas into power. Several organizations are researching and scanning the lake to see how much methane (among other things) is there. Because of the gas, hardly anything lives in the lake – the only thing we’ve seen thus far are isambaza (teeny tiny fish, the size of your finger) which are fried whole and eaten – yumm :(
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