Around 30 to 45 minutes by boat off the coast of Stone Town, Zanzibar lies a small island named Changuu but called Prison Island by most. The name refers to its intended use as a prison in the late 19th century, Changuu never actually housed official prisoners in that sense though. Prior to the building of the prison structures still present on the island today, it was used as a kind of prison or holding point for rebellious enslaved people in the 1860s. Changuu Island was later also used as a quarantine zone for traveling tradespeople, especially to contain the spread of yellow fever.
Today the island is a very popular tourist attraction, in part possibly because of its interesting history but mainly because of the giant tortoises that live there. Around 100 Aldabra giant tortoises live on the island, ranging in age from a few weeks to over a hundred years. Aldabra tortoises can live up to 200 years and adult animals weigh between 160 and 250 kg.
The tortoises are listed as “vulnerable” on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List of Threatened Species, having been exploited to near extinction in the 19th and 20th century. They were used mostly as exotic pets or food, but the populations have now largely recovered and are growing steadily, mostly due to international conservation efforts.
As part of our programme while on Zanzibar, we got to visit Changuu Island and see the tortoises and buildings for ourselves. Arriving with us were around a dozen other tourist groups, filling up the beach and heading for the entrance.
On the island there is a now abandoned hotel and a not very heavily frequented restaurant, the main attraction is without a doubt an interaction with the tortoises.
Visitors are allowed to move around the entire enclosure and touch and feed the tortoises. Most of them (tortoises and visitors) however, are concentrated close to the entrance.
Here the tortoises form one big bubble, surrounded by humans offering them green leaves provided by staff. Although close contact between tortoises and humans is allowed and even encouraged, sitting on them is strictly forbidden.
During our time on the island, we did see one woman try to sit on one of the bigger tortoises, though. Members of our group were outraged and called her out on her behavior. In conversations later we all expressed our disgust over her actions and the disrespect she showed towards the animals.
But it’s not just the behavior of some of the tourists that concerned us, the conditions on the island opened up a lot of questions about animal rights in general.
As mentioned above, visitors are allowed to move all around the enclosure, which leaves the tortoises with no human-free spaces or hideouts. The tortoises are also much slower than humans, making it hard for them to escape stressful situations if they need to. This means that they are surrounded by humans most of the time, and in the case of all of the tortoises born on the island, most of their lives.
Speaking of tortoises born on the island, there is a cage located near the entrance containing all of the tortoises too small to survive on the outside. The number of smaller tortoises in the cage is hard to estimate, but to the uneducated eye it seemed like way too many, considering its size.
It‘s very hard to judge the conditions on prison island as someone who doesn‘t know a lot about these animals and their needs, so most of the criticism presented here is based on a discomfort I felt while on the island and a concern for caged animals in general.
It’s impossible to know what goes on behind the scenes, to see how the tortoises are being taken care of when the park is closed to visitors, what kind of work is being done by experts to ensure the wellbeing of the animals. There is also very little “official” information or assessment from animal rights organizations about the tortoises on Changuu Island and the conditions there, which actually surprised me. There are only a few isolated negative reviews on tourism websites, describing bad conditions and expressing concern for the animals.
We didn’t see any tortoises in visible distress (again: to the uneducated eye) however, and most of them seemed willing to be touched and fed by visitors.
It should also not be forgotten that these tortoises are a very vulnerable species and are given a space on Changuu where they can live and reproduce without danger.
The line between preserving and commercializing seems to be very thin though. The tortoise sanctuary on Prison Island is without a doubt a very lucrative business and it’s unclear how the money made from entrance fees and donations is actually being used.
When I got back to Germany I talked to my mother about our visit to Zanzibar and to Prison Island and I was surprised to find out that she had actually also been there. She showed me some pictures of herself and my father in the 90s with the tortoises and I was shocked to see that both of them were sitting on the animals. I told her how disgusted we as a group were to see one woman even attempt to sit on one of the tortoises and I asked why she and my father were sitting on them back then. She explained that all visitors were actually encouraged by staff to sit on the tortoises and that they were even given tips on what to do to make them walk forward.
This made me think. There must at some point have been a person, or a group of persons who cared enough about the wellbeing and maybe even dignity of the tortoises on Changuu to effect this change. To stop the staff encouraging visitors to sit on the tortoises, but also in a much bigger sense to sensitize (uneducated) civilians to care about the comfort and happiness of animals. To see them as more than just something to amuse us.
I tried to research when and how this change happened, but I found nothing.
It seems like a very small and obvious step from my point of view, but someone had to actively reflect on the way things were and see some fault in them and that is not to be undervalued.
I think that there are many things that can and need to be improved on Prison Island, but the conversation with my mother reminded me that change is slow and gradual, that it doesn’t come overnight and that in a place as dependent on tourism as Zanzibar many other factors probably play a role.
I’m not entirely sure what to do with my experiences and feelings about our visit, or how to enact the change I’d like to see. I think, however, that starting a conversation and reflecting on your own role as a tourist, as someone creating demand for experiences of this kind, is a good first step.
Written by Gesche Boehm
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