Lake Opeta

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

Lake Opeta
Kyoga Lake Complex with the Opeta (right)
Lake Opeta
Location	Nakapiripirit, Sironko, Katakwi, Kumi
Coordinates	1°42′0″N 34°14′0″E
Primary outflows	Lake Bisina
Basin countries	Uganda
Surface area	68,912 hectares (170,290 acres)
Surface elevation	1,050 metres (3,440 ft)
Islands	Tisai
Ramsar Wetland
Official name	Lake Opeta Wetland System
Designated	15 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, 25 km 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 300 km 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][6]