Changuu Island
Changuu Island (also known as Kibandiko, Prison, or Quarantine Island) is a small island 5.6 km northwest of Stone Town and among the best islands in Tanzania. The island is around 800 m long and 230 m wide at its broadest point. The island saw use as a prison for rebellious slaves in the 1860s and also functioned as a coal mine. The British First Minister of Zanzibar, Lloyd Mathews, purchased the island in 1893 and constructed a prison complex there. No prisoners were ever housed on the island and instead it became a quarantine station for yellow fever cases. The station was only occupied for around half of the year and the rest of the time it was a popular holiday destination. More recently, the island has become a government-owned tourist resort and houses a collection of endangered Aldabra giant tortoises which were originally a gift from the British governor of Seychelles.
In 1919 the British governor of Seychelles sent a gift of four Aldabra giant tortoises to Changuu from the island of Aldabra. These tortoises were bred quickly and by 1955 they numbered around 200 animals. However, people began to steal the tortoises for sale abroad as pets or for food and their numbers dropped rapidly. By 1988 there were around 100 tortoises, fifty in 1990, and just seven by 1996. A further 80 hatchlings were taken to the island in 1996 to increase the numbers but 40 of them vanished. The Zanzibar government, with assistance from the World Society for the Protection of Animals (Now known as World Animal Protection), built a large compound for the protection of the animals and by 2000 numbers had recovered to 17 adults, 50 juveniles, and 90 hatchlings. The species is now considered vulnerable and has been placed on the IUCN Red List by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. More tortoises, mainly juveniles, continue to be brought to the island from other locations for conservation. There is a dedicated foundation on the island which looks after the tortoises' welfare. Visitors are able to observe and feed the tortoises.
Location: Unguja, Zanzibar, Tanzania
