Chasing monsters of the deep at Rubondo Island
By Ryan Green, Travel Writer
The pristine equatorial forests of Rubondo Island in Tanzania’s Lake Victoria are an untouched tropical paradise. Brightly coloured birds and butterflies flit through the understory below gigantic trees, elephants move like grey ghosts through the forest and Africa’s rare and elusive sitatunga antelope is often glimpsed in the papyrus thickets while primates chatter from the canopy above.
Not only is this a naturalist’s utopia, but the waters surrounding the island are a sport fisherman’s dream. The protected waters of the Rubondo Island National Park are an important breeding ground for Nile Tilapia and Nile Perch, a huge predatory fish whose legendary status immediately gets every angler’s pulse racing. No longer a well-kept secret amongst those in the know, Rubondo is now attracting sport fishermen eager to do battle with these monsters of the deep that can grow up to two metres long and weigh in excess of a hundred kilograms. Those to whom the sound of a screaming reel is the ultimate adrenaline rush are speaking of Rubondo in reverential terms, where the size of these fish is held in equal esteem to their fighting ability, and taking them on is a challenge not to be taken lightly.
Allow this video to whet your appetite for the ultimate in freshwater fishing adventures, and get ready for the trip of a lifetime to Rubondo Island!
