Rubondo National Park

Rubondo Island National Park

Rubondo Island was gazetted officially as National Park in 1977. It is an important breeding ground for both migratory bird and fish species especially Tilapia and Nile perch as for a long time it stood to be the only area in the waters of Lake Victoria which was well protected and preserved.

About 80% of the park is covered by a dense forest thus providing a variety of habitats for indigenous wildlife such as Sitatunga, hippos, bush bucks, velvet monkeys, genet cats, crocodiles, bush pigs etc sharing the ecological niches with the introduced species such as chimpanzees, elephants, giraffes, black and white colubous monkeys, suni and African grey parrots.

The park is located on the southwestern corner of Lake Victoria in Geita region about 150 km (95 miles) west of Mwanza. The Lake Victoria is the second largest lake in the world. The park has 456.8 km2 of which 236.8 km2 is dry land and 220 km2 is water comprising of 11 small islets of varying sizes.

Accessibility

Rubondo Island can be reached by Air Chatters and Public transport & then boats to the park.

(A)By Air: Rubondo Island can be reached both by charter/air. Visitors who prefer to travel by air should in advance check with the tour operators in Bukoba, Mwanza, Arusha and Dar es Salaam for flight schedules.

(B) By public transport and Boat: By public transport leads you from Mwanza to Nkome via Geita town which is approximately 3-4 hours (164km) drive, 100km through a tarmac and 64 rough road. At Nkome Rangers post you can be picked by park boat and will take 1 hour to the park.

Another route is Mwanza to Mganza through Bukoba road (270km – 5hrs), Biharamulo to Mganza through Chato – Bukoba road and from Bukoba to Mganza through Bukoba-Chato road.

At Muganza you can take a taxi or motorcycle (5min) to Kasenda where Park boats are parking and there you will be picked-up by park boat and will take about 20-25 min to the park.

Note: Communication and transport arrangements should be done prior to park visit.

Best Time to Visit

The best time is from June through September and wet season from November to March when wild flowers are flourishing and plentiful of butterflies.

For bird watchers is from December to February when most migratory birds are nesting.