Which one of the following lakes of West Africa has become dry and turned into a desert?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (b) Lake Faguibine
Lake Faguibine, near Timbuktu in northern Mali, was fed by overflow from the Niger. Droughts in the 1970s dried it, and sand then choked the channels from the river, so even when rains returned the water could not reach it; the lake bed has largely turned to desert.
- ✓ (b) UNEP reports that Lake Faguibine has been dry since the 1970s: droughts emptied the lake system and sand-filled channels cut it off from the Niger's floods.
- ✗ (a) Lake Victoria is in East Africa (shared by Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania), not West Africa, and it has not dried up.
- ✗ (d) Lake Volta in Ghana is a large artificial reservoir behind the Akosombo Dam and still holds water for hydropower; Lake Oguta in Nigeria is also a living lake.
Remember · Lake Faguibine (Mali, near Timbuktu): Niger-fed lake system dried since the 1970s droughts — a Sahel symbol of desertification; UNEP has worked on reviving it.
Sources
- UNEP: Benefits galore if Mali's Lake Faguibine system were revived ↗ “Lake Faguibine in northern Mali is dry and has been since the 1970s. The Lake Faguibine System, four interlinked lakes 80 km west of Timbuktu, was historically one of Mali's most fertile areas.”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2022, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·