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Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park

Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park

Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park
4
7:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Monday
7:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Tuesday
7:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Wednesday
7:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Thursday
7:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Friday
7:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Saturday
7:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Sunday
7:30 AM - 4:00 PM
About
The Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park is a 50 km² national park in Tanzania located on the island of Zanzibar.
Duration: < 1 hour
Meets animal welfare guidelines
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  • Ishee76
    Hungary21 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    The most interesting place to visit in Zanzibar
    Well organized, clean tripical forrest. Entrance fee is 12 USD for a 4 hours trip, defenetly worth it. The guide was quite, but patient and helpful. Defenetly the best experience in Zanzibar.
    Visited November 2023
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 28 November 2023
  • Kontesaa
    113 contributions
    3.0 of 5 bubbles
    Not worth spending Ur time
    The only animals u will see is monkeys. The tour guide is more interested in his phone then the visitors and at the end of small walk he will ask you for tips! I have beem to many parks and forests this one was the worst
    Visited December 2023
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 10 December 2023
  • laczkozsu
    Debrecen, Hungary2,431 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Green forest and monkeys
    We visited this National Park with our private guide who was really enthusiastic. We had to join to a group of different tourists and a local guide introduced the area. The Zanzibar red colobus monkeys were funny and mischievous, we enjoyed meeting them. Later we walked in the mangrove forest, which was really interesting. The nature was amazing, we wanted to know as much as possibly about the birds, animals, reptiles and plants, trees of the tropical forest. The quality of your visit largerly depends on the quality of the guide. Unfortunately, ours was not the best. She came with us rather bored and didn’t explain in detail, just in a few words. After the rain she tried to dissuade us from walking in the muddy forest, but we wanted to see it. So we (5-6 tourists) took a short walk. It’s worth, because the mahogany trees, eucalyptus, huge ferns and the blues monkeys were amazing. We expected more but in the end we made the most of the situation.
    Visited December 2023
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 4 January 2024
  • luvninou
    Rabat, Morocco460 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    A touristy yet nice experience
    During our day trip with a hired driver, we ventured to Jozani Forest, a popular destination where all tourists join guided groups upon arrival. The forest, though not exceptionally dense, was aesthetically pleasing, featuring an abundance of Zanzibar red colobus monkeys that added a delightful touch to our visit. The playful antics of the monkeys were particularly entertaining and made the experience truly enjoyable. Following our exploration of the forest, we embarked on a short tour of the mangrove, which added a different dimension to our excursion. In essence, Jozani Forest is undeniably a tourist-centric location, but it stands out as one of the rare places where you can observe the Zanzibar red colobus monkeys in a natural habitat.
    Visited August 2023
    Travelled with family
    Written 22 January 2024
  • graham e
    Birkenhead, United Kingdom581 contributions
    3.0 of 5 bubbles
    Would not bother
    It's a lovely ride through the small villages and farms to get to the national park with plenty of things to see. Once at the park it's very disappointing, over crowded, noisy and bus after bus bringing in tourists to see the monkeys. There is no control and visitors are allowed to get too close to the animals. There is also a small walk around a mangrove forest which seemed devoid of life and the visit to a small village to watch dancing.
    Visited January 2024
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 9 February 2024
  • Eileen108
    Mount Shasta, California5,618 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Smallish Area but Nice to Walk Through
    We were on a group tour from a cruise ship. We went on a short walk through the forest and saw the blue monkeys and red colobus monkeys, nothing else except a squirrel with a very long tail. We also drove to the mangrove area with the wooden bridge, which was interesting to see. There was also a short music and dancing performance by locals.
    Visited February 2024
    Travelled with friends
    Written 6 July 2024
  • Jayne P
    25 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Peaceful morning with red colobus monkeys
    This was a great late morning activity that took a couple hours. Started with the forest and ended with a walk through the mangroves. Had an absolutely awesome up-close encounter with the red colobus and blue monkey!
    Visited July 2024
    Travelled solo
    Written 14 July 2024
  • Adam M
    Norwich, United Kingdom285 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Don't miss the one place on Earth to see the Red Colobus monkey in the wild.
    We got our hotel to sort a car and driver who took us to the park. You don't need to book an expensive tour, as when you pay you get an excellent local guide. We saw grey monkey, Colobus monkey, elephant shrew and more, all in a one hour visit. At 12 dollars per person it is a good value , must do visit.
    Visited August 2024
    Travelled with family
    Written 7 August 2024
  • Matt D
    Bristol, United Kingdom11 contributions
    3.0 of 5 bubbles
    No need to book a tour for this trip
    If you are doing this trip in isolation then no need to book a tour! Just take a taxi or hire a bike / car, turn up and pay 25k shillings ( you’ll pay about $3 more per person i.e. $12 instead of $9 if you pay in dollars) and off you go in no time with a tour guide. The tour should last about an hour and you will see monkeys as well as crabs and the mangrove swamp. It’s nothing special but if you go as a family the kids should enjoy it. Be warned the guide will ask for a tip even though it’s supposed to be included in the admission price.
    Visited August 2024
    Travelled with family
    Written 22 August 2024
  • JozephLa
    22 contributions
    3.0 of 5 bubbles
    Quick visit Josani forrest
    The walk in the forrest was nice but our guide was not very informative. For some reason we could not go to the mangrove forrest unfortunately. What remained was a visit to the red back monkeys. On the way we saw a glimpse of the elephant shrew. All in all it was a nice visit but not more than that.
    Visited September 2024
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 24 September 2024
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

4.0
4.0 of 5 bubbles1,460 reviews
Excellent
543
Very good
527
Average
235
Poor
89
Terrible
66

Michael Hon
Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic2 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2020 • Couples
Well, the forest and surrounding is fascinating, but efforts of guides to get the most of our money in their pockets was realy making it akward. We came here by dala dala and that was the first surprise for locals, bacause they could not charge us for parking. Unpleasant guys on reception charged us $12 each for a short walk with guide. Then we spent 20 min walking in the forest, another 20 min watching red monkeys by the side of the busy main road (what a place to watch monkeys in their natural habitat, really? We were also told, that watching the black monkeys is nonsence, because they live everywhere) and then they took us to mangrove forest for another short walk - you need your own car to get there, otherwise you have to pay for a taxi, clever. When we finished the tour, the guide (who was kinda akward joker, evethough he may know something about Jozani, but felt like he is acting some weird stand up comedy) embarrased himself by asking for a generous tip, cause he is working here as a volunteer and he has no other income (lies, lies, lies - entrance fee includes guides). When we paid a dollar each, he turned to be quite angry about stupid mozungus. You may get lucky and get a better guide, but this place is not running well in my opinion.
Written 22 December 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

esbenlyager1972
Qaanaaq, Greenland10 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020 • Family
10€ to look at some tame monkeys while a hoard of other people are taking pictures. The walk in the forest is actually nothing more than a 500 meter walk around the reception areal.
In the mangrove forest you walk 200 meters on a boardwalk. You see some black crabs.
Overpriced and not very informative. We didn't get any receipts, we suspect that they put the money in their own pocket.
Written 3 February 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Petra P
Prague, Czech Republic4 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2021
Jozani forest as a place is an amazing and very unique area.
Unfortunately all of their guides are horrible, with very poor knowledge, talking about tips only.
They are not even able to answer basic questions about forests, the same as about monkeys.

What I learned is " these monkeys like to touch and kiss people and like to eat chocolate"
shame on you guys.

This was really horrible experience cost only by unprofessional guides ( i have been there several times last 2 month)

It is really a pity, as I mentioned, the place and animals are amazing there but spending 40 minutes with a guide who "doesn't know" or telling really liars is a waste of money and time.
Written 22 August 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

David S
Aldwick, UK89 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020
The forest tour takes visitors through several different areas including a mangrove area, forest and naturally a stop to see the Kirk's Red Colobus monkey. This is the only place in the whole world where they live, and they are absolutely charming. They show no fear of humans, and our guide was happy to let us (a group of about 12) stay as long as we liked just feet away from them. The babies are born grey, and don't show signs of red until they about three months old.
Written 20 February 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Gillian Durham
Portugal22 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2023
A poor quality experience after the superb National Parks on the mainland. Here, the main focus seems to be to extract as much money as possible from you. The entrance was chronically congested with tourist taxis. You are put together in large groups for a 20 minute walk in the forest. If you want longer or a smaller group size.....hand over another $30. Our guide seemed solely driven by the prospect a tip and offered only cursory comments during our marginally extended "yomp" through the forest. The guides seem to encourage visitors to get ridiculously close to the monkeys presumably so that good close-up photos equate to larger tips.
Incidentally, both typed of monkey are easily visible from the road that passes through the park.
Written 8 March 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Eman
United Arab Emirates35 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2021 • Friends
Entrance fee is 25,000 shillings and FYI they only accept cash. Our tour guide was knowledgeable and great at explaining things but the experience wasn’t special at all. Make sure you go to the toilet before visiting the site as the toilets here aren’t pleasant. They have a restaurant but it doesn’t look appealing at all. There is A LOT of walking involved so wear comfy footwear!!! We learnt about the forest and saw the black and red monkeys. It was nice to see them roam around freely from afar - they didn’t get close to us. We also looked at the mangroves which was interesting. Overall, would only recommend if you want something to do for a few hours to kill time but don’t expect too much.
Written 22 April 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

todorlev
Sunny Beach, Bulgaria6 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2020 • Family
Jozani is the only park in Zanzibar. We visited the park on our way to paje beach from stone TOWN with yunus.we only paid 20$ and yunus helped us to guide us and take a short walking tour in the forest. The monkeys are very charming and come close to you but not allowed to feed them.

Whatsaap yunus for tours recommendation.

+255 620 308 527
Written 11 March 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

WorldCulture
United States66 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2021
The quality of the guiding made our birdwatching experience in/near Jozani Forest poor. The guide was a local resident and has been involved in development of Jozani Forest. It was hard to understand him when he was calling out the species of birds. When we asked him to show them in his bird guidebook, he was fumbling through the pages and couldn't find them. When a guide is struggling with the basics of bird guiding, you can't expect him to explain the environment and behaviour of birds.

A couple of other poor experience we had in Unguja agreed with the description in the travel guidebook we had. When comparing to the guiding we had on safari in mainland Tanzania, the quality in Unguja was extremely poor.

If you just want to see the monkeys, the quality of guiding doesn't matter since it's almost no way to miss them. However lack of quality guiding makes exploring the forest and birdwatching extremely challenging. At the end of our tour, we felt we had squandered our time and money.
Written 13 January 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Zanvert Tours & Safaris
Zanzibar Island, Tanzania20 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2020
The Jozani Forest is the home of the red colobus monkey, a rare species found only in Zanzibar. These monkeys are full of character, and stray freely. But Jozani is also home to other species including Sykes monkeys, small buck, chameleon and bush pigs. The elusive Zanzibar leopard (last sited several years ago) is said to feed here at night - perhaps this is why the reserve is only open during the day?! Jozani has an excellent nature trail and the guides are well trained and informative. A walk through this impressive flora and fauna is one of the highlights Zanzibar has to offer.
Written 22 November 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Ashley B
Bakersfield, CA77 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2020 • Solo
I would highly recommend a visit while in Zanzibar! The national park provides their own guide upon paying entry fee for conservation. I was traveling solo and was paired up with a family of 4 to share a guide. My guide was so nice and very informative about all the animals and plants in the park and their importance in the ecosystem. He was also very accommodating with taking pictures and stopping to chat when our group had questions. We saw lots of endemic red colobus monkey, which can only be seen here in Zanzibar! The mangroves were also very interesting!
Written 2 November 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

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