Times in Tanzania: Zanzibar: Jozani Forest

Walk amongst the ferns

One of the places I didn't get a chance to visit on my first trip to Zanzibar was Joazani Forest. Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park is a 50 sq km (19 sq mi) national park of Tanzania, the only national park located on Zanzibar. Aside from an activity not typically associated with Zanzibar (walk in the forest), the big draw is the endemic Zanzibar Red Colobus monkey.

The park is located centrally in the island and about 50 minute drive from Stonetown. We were staying in the south of the island and wanted to beat the crowd so we left at 7:00AM and we were the first people at the park.

The staff were extremely friendly and the park had a very laid back feel. We paid our entry fee and were assigned a guide, which I initially wasn't too excited about (they are mandatory) but proved to be very knowledgeable and tastefully led us on a walk. There were basically three activities and he asked which we wanted to do and in what order: monkeys, forest walk, mangrove walk. We told him we wanted to do them all but we requested his guidance in choosing the order.

We started with the monkeys. After working for a primate conservation organization in Nigeria and not being such a huge fan of monkeys, it's somewhat difficult for me to get excited to see even an endemic type. But I was really impressed with how well habituated the monkeys in Jozani were. Habituated means that the monkeys have become familiar with human activity and are not scared, yet they are not tame, which is usually a result from people feeding or playing with monkeys. Tame monkeys usually steal your food and poop on you while habituated monkeys investigate your presence but continue with their normal rituals. It really feels like you are watching them in the wild as opposed to disturbing them.

Our walk to see the monkeys was only about 10 minutes and we watched them for a good half hour. They were grooming, feeding, and playing and it being my sister's first monkey experience, I had as good of a time watching her joy as I did watching the monkeys.

After we finished with the monkeys we then went deeper into the forest. As my sister isn't a huge hiker, we only spent about 20 minutes but the forest offered a variety of beautiful areas, some with ferns, some with tall dense trees and some with widely spaced trees with sparse undergrowth. It was a very unusual forest for me and I absolutely loved it. We even saw a baby cobra snake!

The forest trek wound around to the main entrance, which at this point had come alive with more park employees and tourists. We then got back into the car and headed south about one kilometer to a mangrove boardwalk. I'm a huge fan of mangrove ecosystems and I thought the walk was a very cool way to expose people to a habitat that isn't the easiest to navigate (usually by canoe/kayak).

Overall I thought Jozani was a must visit, even if you're not a huge nature/forest lover. It is such a different activity than the typical ocean draw and it can be a quick visit, even for a few hours in the morning or afternoon. I will definitely go back as I'm sure I could spend the whole day hiking around the forest!