Prison Island (Changuu)
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About
A small coral island roughly 5km northwest of Stone Town, once used to hold slaves in transit and later a colonial-era prison; today a government-run sanctuary for Aldabra giant tortoises, some estimated well over 100 years old.
Changuu Island passed through several hands before becoming a tortoise sanctuary: first Sultan Majid bin Said sold it to Arab traders who held enslaved people there in transit, then the British colonial government built a prison compound on it in the 1890s that ended up being used mainly to quarantine people suspected of yellow fever rather than as a working jail. In 1919 the governor of Seychelles gifted four Aldabra giant tortoises to the island; their descendants had grown to more than 200 animals by the 1950s. The tortoises can weigh up to around 250kg, and the oldest resident is estimated at close to 200 years old.
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Discovery & Nature › Parks & Nature Reserves
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Changuu Island, roughly 5km northwest of Stone Town, Zanzibar (reached by boat) Urban Zanzibar Urban/West Tanzania
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