The endangered red colobus of Jozani Forest

For first timers having such close encounter with the red colobus monkeys, also known as kirk in the region, there was no shortage of monkey drama. Known to be mischievous, curious, clever and ultimately very naughty, they gave the tourists such a laugh as they clicked their cameras away.The specie was named after Sir John […]

For first timers having such close encounter with the red colobus monkeys, also known as kirk in the region, there was no shortage of monkey drama. Known to be mischievous, curious, clever and ultimately very naughty, they gave the tourists such a laugh as they clicked their cameras away.
The specie was named after Sir John Kirk (1832-1922), the British resident of Zanzibar who had first brought the attention of zoological science to them. Since the mid-1990s they have been adopted as the flagship species for conservation in Zanzibar.
Just like the Afi Mountains of Cross River State provide shelter and natural habitation for the endangered drill monkeys species, so does the Jozani Forest on Chwaka Bay in Zanzibar provide natural habitation and a good measure of safety for the red colobus monkeys.
The Jozani Forest is one of the last remaining sanctuaries in the world for the red colubus monkeys and is a major tourists’ attraction in East Africa.
Declared a nature reserve in 1962, the Forest covers a landmass of 2,512 hectares and houses about 2000 to 2500 of the primate species.
 Previously warned of how wild and moody they could sometimes be, tourists were able to go close to the animals, take photographs and watch some epic displays from them. Some upon sighting the crowd ran to safety further inside the forest or to their mothers.
One particularly interesting infant that seemed so active it displayed all naughty characteristics of a monkey seemingly decided after a while that tourists had had enough photographs of her. As they returned for more shots, she hid her face behind a tree trunk and would occasionally take peeks to see if the cameras were still up and hide just in time for the photographer to miss the shot. It rewarded itself with a loud laugh which was further echoed by other primates in the vicinity; some of which came to see the reason for the laugh before running away from the disappointed glares of the tourists.
According to the tour guide, the primates were once extremely endangered and very near extinction. “At night, wild animals would usually come to feed on them, especially leopards. But over the years, we have been able to increase their numbers and help procreation with the help of the local communities around,” he said.
Not entirely sure that wild animals still do not visit the site at night the sanctuary is only open at day time as a preventive measure against any attacks on humans.
With an already marked out nature trail, tourists are able to navigate the different parts of the forest in admiration of its reach greenery on all sides before proceeding to the mangrove swamp across the road in the mangrove forest.
The sea grass beds of the Chwaka Bay, fringed with mangrove forests, are important breeding grounds for marine organisms, including open sea fish species, a guide informed tourists who were awed by the still existing rich vegetation of the terrain. This is very much unlike in other climes where the trees would have been cut down or the aquatic life extinguished as a result of various types of pollutions.
Such crisis is what tourists were told the Tanzanian government ensures does not happen as felling of trees is prohibited and punishable. The hardwood trees, guests were told, grow in the tidal salt water and are a good protective material for the Island against storms.
With receding water levels, dead coral reefs were visible as well as the variation of roots: breathing, stilt and vivipary.
First time visitors to the site saw rare crab species, poisonous yet their colours very tempting, one almost wished to lift them off the ground. Zanzibar’s nocturnal tree hyrax, legendary for its four ‘toes’ on its front feet and three on its back, is said to be the first hyrax species that has acclimatised to the forest.
The tour guide informed that the mangrove serves as a good breeding ground for birds and other aquatic animals like the swordfish which they saw in abundance. An Integrated Conservation and Development (ICD) planning for the area is under consideration. The bay is also proposed to be declared a Ramsar Site and is placed on the Tanzanian Tentative List for World Heritage Sites to recognise its unique natural and cultural assets with due consideration of proposed conservation efforts,” he said.
The Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park on a whole sits on a landmass of 50 square kilometres and is the only national park on the Tanzanian island. Located on the route to the dolphins of the Indian Ocean, the park is said to attract 10 percent of the over 100,000 visitors to Zanzibar every year.