Kigosi was established a National Park in 2019. It is 8,265 sq. km. in area and is part of the Moyowosi / Malagarasi wetlands complex, which is the largest in East Africa.
In fact it is part of a vast shallow basin drained by 7 slow moving rivers, the Malagarasi, Moyowosi, Nikonga, Ugalla, Kigosi, Nikonga and Gombe (not to be confused with Gombe Stream where the chimps live) that wind sinuous paths through an immense and complicated network of swamps, plains lakes and woodlands. These rivers eventually join up into the Malagarasi River which empties into Lake Tanganyika at Ilagala. The whole system is more than 92,000 sq. km.in area which makes it larger than the whole of Portugal! It has been estimated that it supplies almost 30% of Lake Tanganyika’s fresh water.
