Rubondo Island National Park
Expert Reviews (2)
Tanzania Parks
Philip is an acclaimed travel writer and author of many guidebooks, including the Bradt guides to Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and South Africa.
A Tanzanian Ark
Rubondo Island is not your typical African safari destination. Proclaimed as a game reserve in 1966 and upgraded to national park status in 1977, it protects the hilly 240km²/93mi2 island for which it is named, along with another 11 islets in the southwest corner of Africa’s largest freshwater body, Lake Victoria.
The original concept for Rubondo was to use it as a breeding ground for introduced populations of endangered Congolese rainforest species such as okapi, bongo and lowland gorilla. This plan never quite worked out, but a number of different species were introduced in the park’s early days, including giraffe, elephant, chimpanzee and black-and-white colobus monkey, all of which have thrived on the forested island.
For many visitors, the main attraction of Rubondo today is the opportunity to track chimpanzees on the north of the island, where a community of roughly 40 individuals has now been habituated. The chimps here are not quite so relaxed as their counterparts at Mahale Mountains or Gombe, but we had great views of them when we went trekking here in 2022, and we were told that the park had enjoyed a 100% success rate in locating chimps over the previous 12 months.
Rubondo Island is notable as perhaps the best place anywhere in Africa to see the marsh-loving sitatunga antelope. Bushbuck and vervet monkey are also common, and you stand a good chance of encountering some of the park’s 100-odd elephants and 80 giraffes. Boat trips offer an opportunity to see some genuinely monstrous crocodiles, as well as otters swimming and colobus monkeys swinging in lakeside trees. Birdlife is excellent too, with African grey parrot, African fish eagle and African paradise flycatcher among the more conspicuous species.
A big attraction of Rubondo is its remote wilderness atmosphere. There's only one small upmarket lodge, supplemented by a national park rest camp, and on both our visits we have been the only guests anywhere on the island. The setting is idyllic, with soft, sandy beaches backed by lush sandy rainforest. Only a short flight west of the Serengeti, this underutilised park makes an excellent alternative to a conventional beach resort – complete with chimps, elephants and so on – for those who want to tag a more adventurous destination on the back of a northern Tanzanian safari.
Ariadne is a renowned African wildlife photographer whose work is featured in many well-known guidebooks and magazines.
Island Chimps
Rubondo Island National Park is one of a kind. This remote jungle-clad island on Lake Victoria has been a haven for chimpanzees since the 1960s. The founder West African chimps were confiscated from zoos and circuses. Once released on the island they reverted to being totally wild. They reproduced and formed two separate communities. I first visited Rubondo in 2002. Although I never got to see any chimps, I loved hearing about this heartwarming story. When I returned 20 years later, I was determined to take part in the Chimpanzee Habituation Experience.
Our journey started with a boat trip to the other side of the island where the chimps were last spotted. Hippos disappeared under the water as our motorboat sped past, but the monstrous crocodiles that lined the shores didn’t even blink an eyelid. Although we were on a tight schedule to start tracking as early as possible, we did stop the boat to take a few pictures of an elephant splashing in the water.
Soon after we started tracking, we heard the distinctive pant-hooting of the chimps. They weren’t very far, but being only semi-habituated, they were keeping their distance. It took us more than three hours of crawling through dense undergrowth before I managed to get a clear view. A big male locked eyes with me and under his steady gaze, I managed to get a few images before he nonchalantly walked off again. It was a magical moment for me, but I hope this was a positive experience for him too and that my part in this helped in the ongoing habituation process.