Prison Island - Changuu Private Island, Zanzibar City

Highly frustrating and very sad place. Old, devastated prison (no entry inside!) neighbors with huge turtles sanctuary. The turtles have little space and all of them are surrounded with hundreds of tourists touching them constantly. Moreover newborn turtles are kept in a squeezed cage (protection against dangerous birds) up to the age of 10 years! Where are the animal rights activists??? The only real attraction of the island is the boat trip to reach it.

We enjoyed the trip very much. The island is a short boat ride away from Stone Town. Very picturesque beach with turquoise water. Of course, the main attraction are the 200 giant tortoises living there. They are very friendly and love to be massaged (would stand on their feet so you can reach better, ask for advice how to pet them). A tortoise living on Prison Island is thought to be 190 years old and considered one of the oldest known living animals in the world, ask one of the guides to show you which one ot is. Most tortoises have numbers on their backs showing their age. They are lots of tiny baby tortoises in a shelter. You can't spend a long time there (unless there is low tide and you decide to swim and sunbathe) and there is no food but nevertheless a great experience.