Lake Ngozi
The lake does not undergo large scale fluctuations in lake level, with only minor differences between the dry and rainy seasons. Air temperatures above the lake are around 18 °C with only minor seasonal variations.
Sporadically, the forests were occupied by Safwa hunters. Reports in 2013 stated that in the following year a geothermal project would commence in the vicinity of the volcano halfway between Ngozi and the town of Mbeya.
Local Myths and Folk Tales
There are a number of local myths and folk tales which surround the volcanic lake, and the surrounding area.
The Nyakyusa People (ethnic group in this area of Southern Tanzania) say that a shaman called Lwembe was chased from his birth village (Ukwama in the Makete area) to the waters of Lake Ngozi after the people had become weary of the deceptive nature of his magic.
Once Lwembe became an inhabitant of the waters edge, the local tribe's cattle began to disappear. It is said that villagers started going missing too if they ventured too close to the waters. Nyakyusa elders dispelled the area by rolling a huge boulder which had been placed in the heart of a fire for three days into the water, while casting their own spells. Since that time, the evils spell on the Lake has not returned.
The most commonly heard myth and folk tale is that of a group of Colonial German soldiers who disposed of treasure into the waters of the lake. They put a spell on the Lake to protect the gold and hamper any other persons' efforts to reclaim it. Some variations of the myth suggest that this caused an emission of poisonous gasses (which we now know could be linked to a Limnic eruption), while others claim that there is a twelve headed snake that protects the treasure and comes out to the surface on sunny days. Whether there ever was a treasure remains a mystery.