Rubondo Island National Park is located southwest of Lake Victoria.  It’s Africa’s largest island national park spanning 26km long and up to 10 km wide. More than 75 percent of the island is covered in pristine equatorial rainforest. The island has been a haven for wild chimpanzee, bush pig, giraffe, elephant, and sitatunga since the 1960s

The chimpanzee population in the island occurs in two groups located in the northern and southern part of the national park. The northern group has been tracked for habituation starting early this year of 2020 using non-provisioning methods and the southern group is yet to be habituated and is still in its wilderness state.

Rubondo Island (RI): The founder population consisted of 17 individuals that were all wild-born, but of West African descent, introduced to the island between 1966 and 1969 (Matsumoto-oda 2000). They had spent their previous years in German and Dutch zoos and circuses. Because RI chimpanzees are not indigenous to Tanzania, the population is not included in the official IUCN maps of chimpanzee ranges in Tanzania.