Guide for visiting Jozani Forest

Let’s have a look at Zanzibar’s wildlife. There is no possibility of going to safari but there are still animals to visit – in general Zanzibar isn’t just about beaches. When it comes to Zanzibar’s wildlife, most of the people would recommend snorkeling or visiting the Jozani forest. What can you see there? Monkeys and mangrove trees. It might not sound like something special but those are special kind of monkeys that lives only in Zanzibar.

Visiting Jozani Forest

Jozani forest lays about a little bit less than an hour from Stone town and about half an hour from Jambiani beach. It is a national reservation. The main reason for this status is the fact that there are red Columbus monkeys and this is the only place where they live now. Upon your arrival, you will get a guide – it is not allowed to go without him. In my case, he was the one who was leading us through the forest to see all the monkeys.

In general, spotting Columbus monkeys is not a difficult thing to do.  They are almost everywhere and it is not because people keep feeding them. There is about thousand of them in the forest, which sounds like a big number for species that is said that is supposed to be rare, but since they live just here in Zanzibar. They are very sensitive to the envir0nment which makes them threatened. In other parts of Africa, they were hunted both by humans and by chimpanzees.

But anyway, here in Jozani forest they have their little paradise.

It will take about half an hour to 45 minutes for the guide to show you around and tell you everything about the monkeys. After that, you will go to see the mangrove trees.

Visiting mangrove trees in Jozani Forest

In case you are living south of the USA or if you have ever been there, this might not be as interesting. However, I’m just a European girl, who saw this for the very first time. You can usually find mangrove trees in coastal water. The one that I saw had their roots constantly dipped in the water.

We get to know a lot of things about mangrove trees and how important they are to the local ecology. It was very informative. It took about half an hour and after that, the whole tour was over. Our guide was kind of grumpy and kept asking us for tips. It felt like here they don’t understand the fact that getting tips depends also on your attitude. But otherwise the tour was quite great and I would very much recommend it to everyone.

Practical information

Most of the hotels in Zanzibar are offering this tour. Meaning that they will either have a tour bus or your taxi to get you there and back. In case you choose to go to a beach resort somewhere in the north of Zanzibar it is probably recommended. It from north Zanzibar it will take you about an hour and a half to get to the Jozani forest. And in that case, you should probably do something else here as well. For example, you can come to visit spice plantages or snorkel area.

In case you came here from east or west areas, it doesn’t take that long.

The park is open from 7 in the morning till 6 in the evening. Here is the catch. If you come here very soon, at 7 o’clock, monkeys might be still sleeping. But you will have the whole forest for yourself. If you are coming here from Paje or Jambiani or other beaches like this, I would probably recommend coming here at 9. Monkeys will be awake, there won’t be as many other tourists.

How to get there

For visiting Jozani Forest you can choose different options. If you have a big budget, you can take a taxi. Otherwise, the cheapest option is to take Dalla dalla – local bus – and just go with it. There is a stop right outside of the park, so it is very easy to get there and back.

If you feel like having a day on a scooter, you can rent it for a day for about 15 dollars and stop here and lots of other places around.

Lastly, the prices – Fee to the national park costs about 12 dollars. If you choose to come by taxi, it might cost you from 10 to 30 dollars, depends on where are you coming from. Dalla-dalla will cost you just about 2-3 thousand Tanzanian shillings (2 dollars) one way.

Generally, the Jozani forest is a great place to visit, both for family or just if you don’t know what to do. It is a very informative and very nice piece of nature.

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