When the Lake Chew Bahir is filled, it stretches into northern Kenya.

Lying at the center of the Stephanie Wildlife Sanctuary, the lake measures some 40 by 15 miles (64 by 24 km).

Chew Bahir is fed from the north by the Weito River, and its tributary the Galana Sagan.

The Galana Sagan receives the overflow of Lake Chamo in some years, but no permanent connection exists.

Count Sámuel Teleki was the first European to visit the lake in 1888,[2] and named it for Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, the wife of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria.