Tanzania Field Report: Rubondo Island and Serengeti

The plane’s wheels rolled down Arusha’s airport tarmac, the peaks of Mount Meru disappeared into the hazy blue horizon, and the journey began. Below us, northern Tanzania unfolded, in shifting textures and colours, riverbeds, and scattered acacias.

From the air, Rubondo Island National Park appeared as a deep-green masterpiece set against the vast blue of Lake Victoria. The shift from Arusha’s bustle to Rubondo’s stillness was immediate. The pace slowed to something far more elemental as the forest closed in gently around Rubondo Island Camp, the high tree canopy waving in unison with the waves of Lake Victoria.

Whispers of the forest in Rubondo National Park

Early morning coffee in the soft morning light glimmering over the lake, paired with the symphony of early bird calls, set the first day of chimp trekking alight.

Setting off to the North of the island, just as her inhabitants were beginning to stir, mist lifted slowly from the forest canopy, and anticipation hung in the air. At the trackers’ guidance, the forest expanded in layers of sound and scent. Alive and ancient. The first trek is always the most electric and unexpected.

As humidity turned into beads of sweat, we eyed the next incline. An uphill battle that was tackled with nothing short of excitement.

Following the guides, we listened.

We waited.

And in a matter of moments, the forest around us erupted and began to speak more clearly.

The experience shifted from anticipation to immersion as we observed the chimps wandering around us, unencumbered by human interruption – what a wonderful experience!

Over the next few days, we explored the island by boat and car. At times, the lake lay smooth, mirror-still, interrupted only by the sudden appearance of an elephant emerging from the shoreline thicket, feeding peacefully, stepping into view before moving back into the forest. Above in the canopy, black-and-white colobus monkeys leapt effortlessly, sketching soft arcs against the sky.

Afternoons at Rubondo Island Camp drifted effortlessly into evening, as we lingered over the final, precious seconds of fading light while the sun sank slowly beyond the water. Lanterns cast a soft glow along the beach, and dinner was served to the hushed rhythm of gentle waves rolling onto the shore. Each moment felt unscripted, as if the island revealed itself at its own pace.

Leaving Rubondo Island Camp felt like stepping out of Tanzania’s best-kept secret.

Endless plains, timeless skies in the Serengeti

As the aircraft banked eastward, the vastness of Lake Victoria gave way to the golden plains of the northern Serengeti, and the intimacy of the forest gave way to endless savanna horizons.

The drive toward Sayari Camp unveiled herds of migration stragglers, scattered and re-formed in rhythmic patterns, zebra and wildebeest moved like brushstrokes across the plains.

The seer scale of the north Serengeti is profound, overflowing with quiet confidence and untamed elegance. Undeniably humbling.

Sayari camp emerged softly, not as an interruption to the landscape, but rather as an extension of it.

Positioned near the Serengeti’s beating heart, the Mara River, the camp's purposeful placement was designed to witness and understand the Great Migration.

Outside of the migration season, the Serengeti continues to create moments of rare discovery.

Game drives along the Mara move with an unhurried rhythm as we trace the riverbanks where crocodiles bask in the sun, and hippos wallow in the shallows. Each moment reveals the interconnection between river, savanna clearings and the wildlife that occupy each habitat.

We shared a morning with a lone lioness as she moved through the grass with quiet authority, her presence commanding and powerful.

While enjoying a full-day game drive with a packed lunch, we were met by a storm, as the rain soaked into the earth, and our clothes, the ground around us erupted. Each sent intensified, we leaned into the weather, appreciating the gift from the sky, leaving us entirely content. When afternoons faded into evenings, we enjoyed sundowners on the open plains as the scattered acacias turned amber in the fading light.

While stargazing from the deck at Sayari Camp, there was a feeling of both insignificance and belonging, small within the immensity of the landscape, and yet deeply connected to it.

The Serengeti offered something rarer than spectacle, a quiet sense of freedom. Resident wildlife frequent the plains, and the understated beauty that thrives away from the crowds and cameras, the park’s magic is never diminished, but revealed differently.

Two ecosystems, one wilderness journey in Tanzania

Where Rubondo whispers in slight movements of elusive, rare forest species, the Serengeti declares in bold encounters across the plains and endless horizons.

Together, creating a perfect balance, and that is perhaps the magic of pairing these two regions in one journey. To experience contrast, shifting perspective, and witnessing how two unique ecosystems coexist within one extraordinary country.