The turtles were awesome, really worth visiting when in Zanzibar. The rest of the island is also pretty with interesting history.

Changuu or Prison island is well worth the day trip. Be patient and enjoy the ride as the boats are super slow. Tons of giant tortoises and an interesting history to the island. The snorkeling was also surprisingly stunning with 20+m visibility.

A beautiful sea is surrounding this small island, the giant centuries old turtles that live here are spectacular,, they love to be cuddled. Very interesting old prison/Quarantine house. Arrive early in the morning, better before 10 am to avoid the crowds.

Fun and laid back day trip that you can add on with other activities for the day. On this particular day we did a covid test, Stone town, this island and the Fukuchani caves.Tour of the old prison was good but as an animal lover seeing and feeding the tortoises was the highlight.

Aka prison Island, you will have a chance to meet old wise turtles, their age is written on their shield 🐢, plus there is a hidden spot cool for pictures 😉

Small island with hotel and small beach during low tide. There are some cliffs from which I wouldnt recommend jumping unless high tide but offer some nice photo spots. In addition there are tones of land turtles that you can feed with oldest one being 196 years old. Nice place to visit but not much to offer apart from that. You can ride here from the beach next to Stone Town.

Very beautiful island with an interesting history.You may visit the turtles and feed them.You may even donate in dollars or tanzanian shilling to help with the food expenses.

Extraordinary experience, place where you can freely interact with giant tortoises (feed them and pet them). Also another name is Prison Island, named by the prison which never really worked.

Guys i have the bot and i make the trip everyday so i know very well the islandIs so so beauty

I had visited this (old prison or changuu Island) as they used to call it, theyre giant 🐢 tortoise preserved in here. Its a nice place for attraction and its location is in good view at the sea.

A beautiful place, friendly to turtles, I recommend everyone to visit

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Very nice place. The water were rough when we came by boat. Interesting place. Lots of tortoise. One was 196 yrs old. Very old.

Very cool sanctuary. Never seen a 180 year old turtle. 😳

VISIT PRISON ISLAND IN ZANZIBAR TANZANIA, VISITSERENGETI, NGORONGORO AND KILIMANJARO. CONTACT ME IN WHATSAPP, +255767940830

Prison Island is not only about to see tortoise, dikdik , Peacock, also about prison itself, I had a great time with my friends from French together we experienced the island with the lot of information that was given by me, Its really never used as a prison, no prisoners were housed instead it was used as transition and quarantine place for the Royal family of the Sultan. In 1980s the first british minister of Zanzibar purchased the island and built a Hotel inside.

I enjoyed it although a bit small. Plan your sunscreen accordingly !

I love this place because the history of this place is very deep and interesting as well as the animals are beautiful the peacock,the turtlesdid you know they are more than 100 years oldAnd their life line is till 300 years oldThis place is very good for kids as it is educational for them

I spent one night in Zanzibar and I debated whether or not I wanted to visit the turtle sanctuary. Im glad I went. I think the boat ride cost me $10 and I paid $5 extra for some snorkeling time on a reef nearby (inclusive of snorkel and fins). The boat first dropped the other passengers on the island then took my group to the reef. Be warned, the current is rather strong. When I went the water was reasonably clear but there was an unusually strong fishy smell to it. The turtle sanctuary was impressive as fat as the tortoises are concerned. There is an additional entrance fee that you pay in cash. There are HUGE tortoise everywhere even walking down the paths with you. They seem to be very accustomed to the presence of humans. I had to go off the beaten track a bit to find the oldest one. Be careful where you walk because not everything on the ground is soil. The island itself has some paths to walk down which adds to the visit.

Changuu (Prison) Island is a fun little ~3 hour excursion from Stone Town. Trust, youre going to hear about trips to the island whilst randomly walking about town. The going rate for a single person seems to be $30; however, I booked directly through my hostel with another guest and it came to $17 each (cash, of course).The ride over is fun, especially as your captain will certainly regale you with tidbits of knowledge and trivia. Once youve arrived, youll spend the majority of your time on the island with the giant tortoises, one of whom who is currently 194 years old! Youll get to feed them (I was told to be careful not to lose a finger) and pet & pose with them. There are also peacocks in the enclosure.After the tortoises, youll walk about the derelict hotel, visit the bar, and then make your way to the beach. The beach itself is rather small, and almost certain to be packed; although, there is of course the chance that youll hit it during a lull. The water is startlingly clear, and youll definitely take more pictures than you thought.After the beach, your guide/captain will take you out to snorkel (assuming you requested that). Now, I dont much care for snorkeling myself, but the water around the island makes for what I told is some of the best to be had. We didnt see much of any large(r) fish, mostly just minnows.After youve had your fill, youll be taken back to Stone Town and dropped right at the beach.

Changuu Island is a small island 5.6 km northwest of Stone Town, Unguja, Zanzibar. The island is around 800m long and 230m wide at its broadest point. The island saw use as a prison for rebellious slaves in 1860s and also functioned as a coral mine. The Island is belong Zanzibar Island group.Best place for enjoyment and beautiful.

Lovely Island with old hotel and tortoises.

Beautiful island and home to some Aldabra Giant Tortoises. Travel tip - have a registered professional tour guide to show you around and give you in-depth history of this island and other attractions In Zanzibar.

Such a beautiful experience from the boat trip to visiting this place where history was written to meeting giant turtles.

This place is awesome! The turtles are huge. You get to pet and feed em.They dont bite. ✌The island is not very big and the tour is interesting.Its a dope 👍

Although the island itself is nothing special, the boat ride adventure is a great way to spend half a day.We went to the beach next to Marleys Bar and paid 40000 for a private boat for a family of 4. Island entrance was another 10000 per person(free until age 7)

Last summer (2021) we visited the Seychelles. We also saw the turtles here then, and because it was so beautiful and fun there, we wanted to do this again in Zanzibar. We just got back from the tour and we are shocked by what we saw. The turtles live in very bad conditions. There is a lot of plastic and many broken branches. There is no grass and no area where the turtles have privacy. Its very sad to see. We paid a lot of money to see a lot of animal suffering.

It’s nice for an hour trip, but it’s smaller than expected.

Amazing place. Beautiful nature and great tortoises. There are a lot of them, you can feed and touch them. The oldest have age , written on their shells. There is also old prison, you can walk through its buildings.

Best island in Zanzibar. Has the oldest tortoise in the world and they do breeding also.

An absolutely delightful ½ or full day trip from Stone Town. This is not my first visit to the Island, and I was most pleased to see how it all is maintained! The tortoises are doing well, with the eldest now 194 years old! This trip is a must do for sure!

What an amazing place and well worth the visit.The turtles, OMG. So breathtakingly amazing.A visit is definitely worth it, you will see turtles and peacocks. Some history of the prisons that were there.The beach is breathtaking. 30 mins by boat from the mainland and your experience and tour should not take more than 1 your.

Very beatifull turtles. Nice place.

This is a must if youre in Zanzibar! The tortoise farm is unreal. The food on the island is really good. They have beer too. Two downfalls: first, the boats to get to the island are small and a little unstable so, if the wind is blowing, youre in for a long ride. Second, although the island is beautiful, it only has one small beach. So if youre seeking a beach experience, dont look to this island for that experience.

Amazing place full of history and giant turtles

Would NOT recommend to go there unfortunately. It is a tourist-trap. The island is small. Only a small courtyard to visit if u are interested in the history of the island. That is also the place where they serve food, which is oke. But the sad part is about the animals! The turtles are just sad! They have to live on hard coral ground. Which can not grow gras. Tourist get a old piece of cabbage or leaves to feed them. But the turtles are just over fed. Sleeping. There is plastic and trash everywhere! Turtles eating plastic. So sad to see. Staff can’t be bothered to pick up beer bottles laying around, dumped tyres, many many plastic bottles, plastic wires u name it. Just very sad. Also there is a small are where they keep small turtles. It is wayyy to small. Cramped onto each other. Hardly any sunlight coming trough the fence. Painful to see. Also the terrain is just very dirty. One big garbage belt. There is a old pool. All the sun beds are rotten. Pool is empty. Paint coming of. Boardwalks are broken. Etc. Etc. Just a old and abandoned place where they make a lot of money each day and don’t care about the place and definitely not the animals. Also the see is to rough. So nobody is snorkeling or sunbathing at the little beach (where all the boats land anyway). Which is sold as part of the trip most of the times (prison island + snorkeling + relaxing).

Nice, there is a nice beach and the turtles are really cute. Not much to see where the old prison is concerned though... so u will be taking a trip to see the turtles. Ps: it costs 15 $ to go in a shared boat and 20$ to go in a private boat. Pay no more than that and bargain a lot

Pretty cool place, about 30 mins boat from stone town. Not that much to do there, mainly just the giant tortoises, which were fascinating (and huge). I think the oldest one was 195 years old. Apart from that, there are just a couple of other buildings to explore. We also saw Dik-diks and peacocks.

Also called prison island beautiful historical place dates back from 19th c with 197 years old tortoise.

One of the must ti do it place in Zanzibar.Botanical reserve, unique fauna and of course the main attraction- giant seyshelles turtles.

Changuu Island also knows as Prison Island. Is a small island on the shore waters of Unguja accessible by boat. Its a touristic attraction as its a home to largest land turtles. It has a Prison which was never used as prison. Make sure you visit and learn the history there.

Clean and pristine sand bank. You can rent a boat to take you to Prison island and then to Changuu island for as little as 50,000. Make sure you take lots of drinking water with you as it may get hot and dehydrating.

Changu or Prison island is a must visit place as u will find the giant and old tortoise. If u r staying in stone town ,just walk down to the beach and u will find many boats ready to take u to prison island. It is better if u club prison island with nakupenda beach.There are almost 200 tortoise at the island . Entrance fee is 10000 tsh per person and they will give u spinach to feed to the tortoise.As soon as u enter the gate the tortoise nearest to the gate will start coming towards to u to eat spinach. they are harmless and u can take many photos with them except from sitting on their back.there also i a 200 years old tortoise whose outer cover is disappearing due to age and it barely moves anywhere.u have a restaurant also here with nice seating under a big tamarind tree. u can find people catching sea shells and star fish near the island.

Of course the biggest attraction and the reason for the 5 stars are because of the giant tortoises, which you can feed. We even got to witness having two of them having intercourse.

Tortoise on this island is the biggest attraction. Nothing else really to see. Just a prison that was built but was never in use. An hotel is being redeveloped there which might take long to get ready.

Great place to relax on the beach

It was a good experience feeding the tortoise and a feel of history of slavery on this island

I never thought I would ever touch a living thing that has walked the earth for almost a 150 years. This Island changed that. Once a holding station for slaves the island is now home to giant tortoises and stand as a historical site like no other. The boat ride to the island was great and it took about 20 minutes to reach our destination. The tour war refreshing and the water. I suggest you go early so you get a chance to swim. It took me all my strength not to jump in fully closed 😂. There is a hotel in the island too.

These tortoises are kept in horrible conditions. The place is falling apart and our guide informed us that they dont get enough food and that money donated only goes to the owners and not to improve living conditions for the tortoises. There is plastic bits all over the place, horrible.

My daughter love it. But from what we pay the tartarugas can be better care.

It is a private island as was informed by the local guide.was used as a quarantine station during the clonial time.A hotel was constructed by the current owner though it was closed down later.It is acting as a tortoise breeding ground and to my suprise found 141 year old tortoise

Very historical place filled with so much culture and giant turtles

Beautiful Island with tortoise over 100 years older. It also has a hotel where you can stay over and the prison Trattoria 1893. The water is clear and great for snorkelling. A must see when in Zanzibar

Went with Exotic tours using a Mr Bean boat and we had a nice tour of the island, time with the tortoises, time on the beach as well as snorkeling. A bottle of cold water each was provided at the start and our guide went snorkeling with us even though it is not his field.. just for fun to join in which was sweet :)Each section did feel like it was a tad rushed though and I heard other guides giving more detailed information than we received in parts.Boat had lifejackets but not easily accessible in case of emergency.Friendliness of guide (Mwu, who we had actually had for our Stonetown and Spice Forest/Farm tour the day before) and captain (his name escapes me) made this 4 stars instead of 3 as they were truly lovely people.

The tortoises were great to see, As to be expected its very crowded. The water is beautiful.. Snorkeling, there wasnt much to see...

A notable tourist attraction for half day.For going there you need to hire a boat private is around 45 dollars.Advices:- Turtles to be visited and go deep inside just dont visit the identified roads.- keep an eye on the doors of the island they are beatiful- visit the lounge/bar of the hotel it is interesting.

Amazing tourist attraction and a cool place to relax. Tortoise of 100+ years can be found and peacocks

Just an amazing island, you will forget your life when you are there.Old turtles are a must to see, there is a 194 year old turtle.

Nice 4-hour trip. Boat cost should be 10-15USD/person. +4USD/person to see the turtles

A must visit, 30 min by boat. And had a lovely swum afterwards. Boat was $10 per person. Plan for 2-3 hour trip.

Worth spending a while feeding the Aldabra tortoises and taking a stroll around the island.

Prison island was great,small and easy to see everything quickly,was lucky enough to spot 2 tortoises mating which we are told is very rare.it costs TZS 20000 for a return boat trip 30 mins each way and another TZS 10000 for entry to the tortoises habitat and old historical slave prison.im told its more if you wana snorkel but I didnt, all in all a must see

Must see.. ho got the history and amazingly huge tortoises

Or called “prison island” located near Zanzibar. Some animals find around the island, with some spots for summing, 1-2 hours is enough

Great few hours Zanzibar escape, got huge potential but such a pity theres no lodging capabilities. Some parts need repair. Asking for donations for tortoise centre after charging entrance fees defies logic!

Awesome history of the tortoises, saw one with 196 years old

Nice island with huge turtles.Long time ago it was prison for slaves, where they waited for new owner USA, Latin America, Europe...

A place to relax. very very pleased

Just for tourist, who love other tourist and turtle in Zoo.

Changuu Island another historic name known as the prison island the renovated hotel on this island was first created to serve the purpose of being a prison but now it is used as a hotel the time taken to reach this place is 30 to 40 minutes where you can take a boat from the stone town forodhani gardens area you bay the boat guy about 35 usd go and return fair, i posted a videa of the bridge where the boat stops for departure of the passengers, on the island you can freely enjoy a lot you can do snokerling here theres a bar and a restaurant in the hotel if you feel like you can also book a room and sleep here the hotel also have a small swimming pool, you can see peacocks and doves also the oldest turtles on zanzibar Island are located here in this prison island there are over 100 years some of them upto 200 years the years are written on their shells, in general the island is great so if you are coming to zanzibar take a visit here.

Best place for relaxing. Usually less croud. Carry water (water available on island restaurant but expensive).Rooms are available for stay including swimming pool.

Very clean beach, nice tortoises, it had this really grim vibe to it on the account of what it was built for and what it has been used as in the past but I really loved the animals there.

We had an amazing experience in this island and I would definitely recommend it to anyone staying in zanzibar for holidays

Amazing place to visit with very helpful tour guides on hand. The tortoises are really huge and feeding them was quite an experience.

One of the best place in Zanzibar Tanzania, I give it big five Yes for vacation..also its known as prisons Island. ITS A FULL PACKAGE FOR HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL ENJOYMENT

Very beautiful place clear water, white sand and there are beautiful turtles that you touch and interact with

Amazing island both for the turtle and for the prison. A must visit in Zanzibar.

Its good we need to give more people knowledge about tortoises and case of marine

Look as I come from South Africa. This placed is not that well maintained. So I am comparing the place to Robben Island. Its got a fantastic few as you get to see two different Islands in the Island.Would go back as it led to a snorkeling activity after the view and the sea was perfectly clean. A worthy activity as it was priceless. The tour guides where great and friendly and fluent in English. Making it easy for someone, who has a challenge communicating with the locals.Another beautiful part of this tour is you have options on what to do after visiting the area. Searching for giant oysters. On the island. Swimming with star fish.Great area to be around holistically. They have a restaurant on the island. The drinks do taste different though.

This is one of beautiful islands along Zanzibar shores, it is a historical place with beautiful animals, it has the cleanest Waters for swimming not forgetting nice sands for relaxing...

Absolutely dreamy and worth the money and experience!!! The turtles are super cute even though they are gigantic af 😄! Should cost around 30-40 USD. Dont overthink it, just do it🙌🏾

Beautiful place to visit, need to get a boat to recharge there which will take 30 minutes and the rates are negotiable so you may bargain a little 😉

Was worth the while, we spent about 2.5 hours visiting tortoises, taking the island tour and swimming at the beach.

I really liked this island , there was one of the oldest turtles (194 years old mashallah)

Its an amaizing place i saw huge tortoises... i enjoyed to the fullest.

To see many big turtels this is the place.to see them being touched and feeded from tourists in a surroundings that is not suitable for animals makes me sade. The total prison island is falling apart and urgently need to be maintenance.Not only taking money for visiting Please invest in this island so tourists can come and visit this historic place also in the next 10 years.

One of those mind boggling experience where you dont hear you see for yourself tortoise that are up to 196 years old.

With the tortoise prison island its a wonderful place for tortoise lovers

Sublime Island - tropical dreams look like this. Wonderful tortoise experience.

Seeing the turtles is amazing. Hotel nice but tourists everywhere

The tortoise sanctuary is a mess and not maintained at all. Trash, dirt and loads of charter tourists. Theres an entrance fee, yet the staff ask for more money. It used to be a lovely place with a beautiful path around the island and the tortoise roamed around freely. Not any more. Sad indeed.

Cristal clear water, best for swimming. Natures creation

Interesting if you have never seen giant tortoises before...otherwise nothing impressive

Nice escape from the buzz of Zanzibar. A beautiful mix of the forest and the Indian Ocean.

A bit of a canned experience but this is a pretty island and worth a visit just to see these incredible giant tortoise - just be prepared for a lot of other tourists, even during the pandemic!

The best place you can see old tortoises of about 196 Years

It is also known as prison island.There are 100 of tortoise .Very beautiful place

Very beautiful island with clean beach and has a turtle zoo where a lot of old and young turtles are there, one of them is 196 year old 😱😱😱

The island is beautiful,the tortoise and peacock are will make your heart melt

Must place to sea the Tortoises some are really old aged more than 100 years. One can also spot Peacocks and Dee Dee.