Rubondo Island National Park
One of Africa's quirkiest and most underrated protected areas, Rubondo comprises a lushly forested 240 sq km island set in the Tanzanian waters of Lake Victoria (the world’s second largest lake).
The park was established in the 1960s as a proposed breeding centre for introduced Congolese rainforest animals. This experiment never really came together, but Rubondo does still support some introduced wildlife, including elephant and giraffe, alongside naturally occurring species such the swamp-loving sitatunga antelope. The island is also home to around 70 chimps descended from eight males and nine females released there in the late 1960s. After being left to their own devices for decades, Rubondo’s chimps have now been habituated for tourist visits.
