Map depicting the Lake Maracaibo watershed in northwestern Venezuela Maracaibo Basin As a result, NASA has given the area the distinction of being the 'Lightning Hotspot' of the world. It is most active in September and October and least involved in January and February. There are 250 lightning strikes per sq km every single year. In northwest Venezuela, where Lake Maracaibo meets the Catatumbo River, lightning occurs, on average, twenty-eight times per minute for up to nine hours each day after dusk, for around 300 days a year, accompanied by a storm. The basin also holds almost a quarter of Venezuela's population. The surrounding basin contains sizeable crude oil reserves, making the lake a significant profit center for Venezuela. It is also important for fishing and is located in an agricultural-producing area. In addition, the lake acts as a major shipping route to Maracaibo and Cabimas. The lake is in one of the world's richest and most centrally located petroleum-producing regions. As a result, it is quite shallow, except toward the south, and swampy lowlands surround it. The water in the southern portion of the lake is fresh, but a stronger tidal influence makes the northern waters somewhat brackish. It is fed by numerous rivers, the largest being the Catatumbo.

Lake Maracaibo is the largest lake in South America and one of the oldest on Earth.

It is connected to the Gulf of Venezuela by the Tablazo Strait. Variably considered a bay or lagoon it lies in the Maracaibo Basin of northwestern Venezuela. Lake Maracaibo is a large brackish tidal estuary and an inlet of the Caribbean Sea.

Panorama maracaibo