Rubondo Island is Africa’s largest island national park (26 kilometres long and varying from 3 to 10 kilometres wide). Over three-quarters of its 25 000 hectares are blanketed in untouched equatorial forest – an unusual protected habitat for Africa’s wildlife.

This small and exclusive camp consists of just eight waterfront cottages – all built by hand using traditional skills and local materials – that blend seamlessly into the verdant landscape. The cottages are shaded by lush indigenous forest and all have en-suite bathrooms with hot running water and flushing toilets. One of the room is a family cottage for four people.

The private treehouse is set slightly further into the trees and is used for sleep-outs.

Rubondo Island National Park is in the southwestern corner of Lake Victoria, the second largest lake in the world and the source of the White Nile. The island covers 457km² – just over half of this is land, with the rest made of water and an array of small islets.

The Masa Hills in the far south of Rubondo are the island’s highest point (1 486m above sea level but just 350m above the level of the lake). Much of the land is covered by pristine mixed evergreen equatorial forest with a dense understorey of liana. Patches of grassland and some acacia woodland are dotted between the forests.

Rocky areas and sandy beaches make up the eastern lakeshore, while the papyrus swamps on the western shore are a watery haven for the shy sitatunga antelope, a semi-aquatic animal that is a prized sighting.

Wildlife include rhino (rare), roan antelope, elephant and giraffe. Bushbuck and suni forage undisturbed in the thick forest, while the sitatunga, a semi-aquatic antelope, can be spotted darting in and out of the papyrus swamps on the fringes of the lake.

In the 1960s, Professor Bernard Grzimek of the Frankfurt Zoological Society released 16 chimpanzees on the island and today Rubondo is their sanctuary. Although the chimps are not yet habituated to humans, the many researchers on the island are working continuously toward this goal.

The birdlife on the island is phenomenal: over 300 endemic and migratory species have been recorded. A visit to nearby ‘Bird Island’ by boat will reveal cormorants, African darters, egrets and pied kingfisher, and the high-pitched screeches of the African grey parrot can be heard around the island.

And, of course, the waters of Lake Victoria that surround Rubondo on all sides yield yet more treasures. From wallowing hippos and crocodiles in the shallows to spot-necked otters playing in the waves and the iconic Nile Perch in the deeper waters, the waters host a remarkable abundance of marine life just waiting to be discovered.

Explore the island by canoe and boat, daily game drives by boat and in open vehicles, fishing (catch and release - a Nile perch can weigh in excess of 200kg), chimpanzee trekking, forest walks, birding.

With well over 300 endemic and migratory bird species, Rubondo Island is an ornithologist’s dream. December to March is best for spotting migratory birds, but with the varied habitat of the island, there is something new to record all year round.

Rubondo can be used as a stopover if a visit to Serengeti is combined with gorilla trekking in Rwanda.

SwissAfrican Travel Service
Dammstrasse 27
8702 Zollikon
Zurich, Switzerland


Telephone: +41 (0)44 451 40 51