Excursion sur l'île de la prison
Description
Joignez-vous à nous pour une demi-journée à Prison Island. Nous prendrons un bateau depuis les rives de Stone Town, jetant l'ancre à 5 km, sur la magnifique plage de Prison Island. La prison – qui appartient maintenant à un hôtel – a été construite en 1893 et devait à l’origine accueillir des prisonniers violents du continent et des malades. Vous aurez l'occasion de visiter le sanctuaire de tortues, qui contient une grande colonie de tortues géantes importées des Seychelles à la fin du 19ème siècle. Le poids moyen de ces créatures est de 200 kg et beaucoup d'entre elles auraient plus de 150 ans. Il y aura une chance de toucher la tortue et de prendre des photos. L'île abrite également une colonie de beaux paons. Pour le reste du voyage, vous pouvez soit profiter de la vie marine en faisant de la plongée autour du corail qui borde Prison Island ou tout simplement vous détendre sous la chaude lueur du soleil, jusqu'à ce que vous reveniez à Stone Town.
Options de l'excursion
Itinéraire
Un court trajet en bateau depuis Stone Town, l'île de Changuu (connue aussi comme l'île-prison) est une excursion pittoresque unique permettant d'en apprendre plus sur l'histoire intriguante de Zanzibar et de rencontrer la faune locale. Vous y verrez les tortues géantes, les paons colorés, naviguerant sur les eaux claires et plongerez avec vos masques et tubas.
L'île de Changuu a eu plusieurs rôles au cours des siècles; l'un fût celui d'un avant-poste de quarantaine médicale. Aujourd'hui elle est devenue une attraction touristique et un sanctuaire pour la faune et la flore. Les bâtiments sont pittoresques par leur construction classique et leurs couleurs vives, et sont absolument à voir durant votre passage sur l'île. Un autre des incontournables de l'île est le sanctuaire des tortues terrestres où vivent seulement 4 espèces de tortues géantes Aldabra, native des Seychelles et les plus grosses après les tortues des Galapagos, ont donné naissance à des centaines de tortues. La visite du sanctuaire, le fait de nourrir les tortues et l'observation des animaux amenés à Changuu (comme l'antilope naine et les paons), vous feront passer un agréable moment. Profitez également de la vue sur Stone Town et baladez vous sur la promenage en bois, mais appréciez aussi d'autres activités comme le snorkeling.
Points forts
Ce qui est inclus
Avis des voyageurs
Informations importantes
- Les enfants en bas âge doivent être assis sur les genoux d'un adulte
- Déconseillé aux voyageurs avec des problèmes cardiovasculaires
- Condition physique moyenne requise
- Tarif enfant applicable pour un accompagnement par 2 adultes
Avis(34)
We booked the tour in the last minute but we met amazing guide, Aziza. She deeply understood the past, present, and future of Zanzibar and explained it with great passion. We came here to relax but with the story of Zanzibar, it became much glamorous experience. Also, the short trip to the island with a boat was fun.
I did this tour as a solo traveller and had a brilliant experience with my guide, Mohamed. He was extremely polite, very knowledgeable, and gave great information throughout the visit to Prison Island. The tour starts with a speedboat ride to the island, which is home to a tortoise reserve as well as peacocks, peahens, and chicks. The tortoises were incredible — the oldest is 200 years old! Mohamed shared lots of interesting facts about the wildlife, including the tortoises, the deer, and even the fancy pigeons (definitely not your typical British pigeons!). After spending time with the tortoises, we walked around to the main prison complex. There’s a café/bar, some lovely gift shops, and a beautiful panoramic view across the sea. There’s also a small museum with helpful information about the building’s history. Next, we headed to the snorkelling spot. I was under time pressure to get to another tour, and there was a bit of rain, so I didn’t end up snorkelling — but the water was crystal clear and full of visible sea life, including starfish, fish, sea urchins, and more. We were also given cassava chips as a snack, which were great. A practical note: if you plan to snorkel, you usually arrive in your swimwear as there isn’t a clean changing area on the island. Most people head back to their hotel to change afterwards. Since I had a walking tour immediately after, it didn’t work out for me this time. On a hot day you might dry quickly, or you could bring spare clothes and use a restroom if needed. Overall, this was a fantastic tour — beautiful scenery, a very knowledgeable guide, and Mohamed is also highly skilled at taking great photos! For solo travellers: the website says it’s suitable for individuals, which it absolutely is. The team were very accommodating, but there weren’t others in the group on this occasion, so it ended up being a private tour. This made it more flexible for me, though it does mean you may or may not meet other travellers. Highly recommended
Muhsin’s energy level was lackluster and he just appeared to go through the motions of being a guide. The island, peacocks and tortoises were interesting but the snorkeling was below par with other places on Zanzibar. The advertised water and snacks never materialized. Not convinced it was worth $110.
Beautiful view from the island with blue clear water all around the island. However, we payed 30$ for a private boat for 4 persons, 3$ per person on land for our ticket and what we thought was the entrance fee to prison island, and then 12$ per person when arriving on the island to see the tortoise sanctuary, the small museum, restaurant etc. So basically you pay the 3$ to enter the island and to swim in the ocean and then 12$ to see the prison/hospital and tortoises. The coral reef they mention is nonexistent.. you can snorkel if interested but only see stones and cement at the bottom. So to sum up: it’s not worth the money.
The guide was on time, he smoothly and quickly arranged travel, the island itself was amazing, especially the tortoise sanctuary. The guide was friendly and accommodating, but I not particularly knowledgeable. That doesn't matter much, though, because the prison island museum - which was very good - has all the information on the displays.
Muhsin is the Mr Five Star tour guide!!! We had a very fun boat ride, an educational tour of prison island, and a relaxing time interacting with the famous tortoises. My husband and I fully enjoyed our morning with Muhsin. He was extremely accommodating, offered us time to swim on the island, and allowed us to pace our visit. I would highly recommend Muhsin and the Colors of Zanzibar tour company!
The boat trip there was fun and the turtles were impressive to see. As was to be expected, there were a lot of tourists.
The island has become a tourist attraction with bar, restaurant, pizza and souvenir shop. Only pictures and descriptions in a small room tell the story of what is called a museum. The turtles are in an enclosure that is full of garbage (plastic and paper) and the poor animals eat this with the amusement of the staff.
Nice trip tonPrison Island, and nice snorkeling around. We even have been lucky enough to see dolphins. Our guides Fatma and Muhsin were really lovely
We booked through viator colours of zanzibar fatima met us at the fort nd walked us to the boat when on the boat she gave us some history walked us around the prison island and sawvthe turtles in their habitat and gave us time to explore than after giving us the history of the place then had chance to swim paddle in oceam then back to shore all in all great tour very informative was lovely to meet fatima who then showed us where we could eat over and above her job
