Ngami, Lake

views updated

Lake Ngami (əng-gä´mē, ng–), reedy marsh, c.40 mi (64 km) long and from 4 to 8 mi (6.4–12.9 km) wide, NW Botswana. During the Pleistocene epoch, the lake covered an extensive area. Since the late 1880s, when papyrus growth blocked the mouth of its main tributary, the lake has greatly shrunk in size; it now intermittently receives water from the Cubango River.