Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca is a large, deep lake in the Andes on the border of Bolivia and Peru. By volume of water and by surface area, it is the largest lake in South America. Lake Maracaibo has a larger surface area, but it is a tidal bay, not a lake.It is often called the "highest navigable lake" in the world, with a surface elevation of. Although this refers to navigation by large boats, it is generally considered to mean commercial craft. For many years the largest vessel afloat on the lake was the 2,200-ton, 79m SS Ollanta. Today the largest vessel is most likely the similarly sized, but broader, train barge/float Manco Capac, operated by PeruRail. Numerous smaller bodies of water around the world are at higher elevations.OverviewThe lake is located at the northern end of the endorheic Altiplano basin high in the Andes on the border of Peru and Bolivia. The western part of the lake lies within the Puno Region of Peru, and the eastern side is located in the Bolivian La Paz Department.The lake is composed of two nearly separate sub-basins connected by the Strait of Tiquina, which is 800m across at the narrowest point. The larger sub-basin, Lago Grande (also called Lago Chucuito), has a mean depth of 135m and a maximum depth of 284m. The smaller sub-basin, Wiñaymarka (also called Lago Pequeño, "little lake"), has a mean depth of 9m and a maximum depth of 40m. The overall average depth of the lake is 107m.