Rubondo Island National Park, National park on Lake Victoria, Tanzania

Rubondo Island National Park covers 456.8 km2 in the south-western corner of Lake Victoria, about 150 km west of Mwanza. The main island, Rubondo, is 237 km2 and measures 28 km north to south and 3–10 km wide, with eleven islets around it. It is a partly submerged rift of four volcanic hills joined by three flat isthmuses; the Masa Hills in the south reach 1,486 m, 350 m above the lake. Forest covers about 80% of the island.

The area was inhabited by the Zinza people until the late 1960s, who grew banana crops there before the region became a protected reserve in 1965. This transition to protected status marked a major shift in how the land was used.

The name Rubondo comes from the Zinza people, who lived on the island and kept banana plantations until the government resettled them in the late 1960s. The park's marker at Lukukuru Post carries the TANAPA name, and the Zinza were moved to neighbouring islands and the mainland.

Getting there requires taking a boat from the mainland, and you need permits issued by Tanzania National Parks Authority before entering. It helps to check entry requirements in advance and plan your stay either in the park or in nearby communities.

Between 1966 and 1969 Professor Bernhard Grzimek of the Frankfurt Zoological Society released 17 wild-born chimpanzees in four cohorts; the first arrived in Dar es Salaam on 17 June 1966 aboard the steamship Eibe Oldendorff. From 16 founders the population has grown to around 40, counted by nests, and the apes have reverted to an unhabituated, wild state.