The park is located on an island in Lake Victoria and can be reached by boat from the TANAPA offices on Capri Point in Mwanza town.

[6] The park, at the time known as "Saa Nane Island Game Sanctuary", was accidentally bombed during the air campaign of the Uganda–Tanzania War of 1978–1979.

[7] On 29 March 1979,[8] Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi ordered one of his Tupolev Tu-22 bombers to attack Mwanza, hoping to thereby intimidate the Tanzanian government into calling off its invasion of Uganda.

[9] The Tu-22 completely missed the city, however, and its five anti-personnel rockets instead hit the game sanctuary, slightly injuring one worker and killing several animals.

[9] The island is home to various species of mammals, including the velvet monkey, wild cat, zebra and rock hyrax, amongst others.