Rubondo Island
National Park · TANAPA
A forested island in Lake Victoria, and a chimpanzee experiment that worked.
- Area
- 240 km²
- Established
- 1977
- Region
- Geita Region, Lake Victoria
- Best time
- June–October; November–March for birds
Wildlife
- Chimpanzee
- Sitatunga
- Hippo
- African grey parrot
- Fish eagle
- Nile perch
Rubondo is an island national park in the south-western corner of Lake Victoria — 240 square kilometres of forest, papyrus swamp and beach, gazetted in 1977. There are no dangerous predators of the usual kind, so walking and cycling are permitted, which changes the whole texture of a visit.
Its unusual history is a chimpanzee release programme begun in the 1960s, when animals taken from West African forests for European zoos and circuses were rehabilitated onto the island. Their descendants live wild here, and habituation work now makes tracking possible — though it remains harder than at Mahale or Gombe.
The island is also excellent for birds, with African grey parrots, fish eagles and large numbers of migrants between November and March, and the lake fishing for Nile perch is well known. Sitatunga are unusually easy to see in the swamp margins.
Chimpanzee tracking
Descendants of rehabilitated zoo and circus animals, now wild.
Walking and cycling
Permitted, because the island has no big predators.
Sitatunga in the papyrus
Easier to see here than almost anywhere.
Lake Victoria fishing
Nile perch, catch-and-release, from the island shore.
Flights to the island airstrip, or boat from Mwanza and Muganza.
Driving in is not practical. Camps here run their own vehicles, and we arrange the flight and the game drives instead of a hire.