Zanzibar: Jozani Forest (Trip II)

In the forest

In a previous trip to Zanzibar I really enjoyed my trip to Jozani Forest (Trip I). It's something that I recommend to everyone that visits Zanzibar since it's a beautiful forest with habituated monkeys. It's also not a strenuous or demanding walk and a circuit of trails means you can walk as little or as much as you'd like.

The last time I went was with my sister and our guide seemed to know his birds. I got his number and told him that I'd be interested in coming early the next time I came. About two years passed before I called him again and although he was willing to meet us early and knew we wanted to see birds, no formal plan was made. We agreed to leave Stonetown at 5:30am as to reach the forest by 6:30am.

We reached the forest even earlier than 6:30am and the morning light had barely begun to illuminate the landscape. We walked in the scrub and mangroves south of the forest with the highlight being a pair of bushbabies jumping through the mangroves. As the sun came up we headed to the forest and walked for about an hour or two inside the forest before calling it a day around 1130am.

It was unfortunate that we spent so much time in the hot scrub instead of the forest but it also became clear that the guy did not frequently lead groups outside of his normal work. He definitely knew his local birds but wasn't really in tune with what we wanted to do (ie hike in the forest). I suspect that he doesn't know the trails deeper in the forest and as reluctant to take us. One really cool thing that happened in the forest was that a python crossed the walking trail and nearly struck our guide! He was busy looking in the canopy for birds and didn't notice until I called out when it was right behind him. It scared us both but then settled on the side of the trail extremely camouflaged.

Jozani Forest remains a must do activity in Zanzibar. The temperature is cool throughout the day and the forest is really unique. Huge stands of mahogany trees with coral rock on the trails! The guide said that it gets flooded throughout some of the year, a bit like Minziro Forest in Kagera Region. Although most people come to Zanzibar for the beach, hopefully they are pleasantly surprised by the forest trek. 

Flooded scrub 

Cool crossing sign

Mangroves

In the forest