Location: Zanzibar island Map
Area: 50 km2 (19 sq mi)
Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park is a nature reserve located on the Zanzibar island that belongs to Tanzania. Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park covers an area of 50 km2 (19 sq mi). Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park is a protecte reserve that covers a total area of 50 square kilometers (19 sq mi). It is located in the North- East part of Tanzanian on the island of Zanzibar.
The forest of Jozani becomes a protected natural area in 1960, with
the status of a simple forest reserve.
Starting in 1995, the
protection extends to the Chwaka Bay lagoon, within the Jozani –
Chwaka Bay Conservation Project (JCBCP) which aimed to reconcile the
protection of the area's biodiversity with the needs of local
populations for harvesting wood.
The act establishing the
National Park is signed on January 27th 2003: with this act the
commercial exploitation of the forest is terminated and the local
populations maintain the right of collection limited to dry
branches.
The protected area, extended for about 50 km2,
protects the Jozani forest, located about 35 km south-east of Stone
Town, on the road to Paje, close to the Chwaka Bay lagoon. It is one
of the few remaining strips of Zanzibar forest, characterized by the
alternation of evergreen bush, aquatic forest, coastal bush and
mangrove forests.
The park is home to a population of about
500 specimens of the red colobus of Zanzibar (Piliocolobus kirkii)
endemic to the island. Another primate present is the white-throated
vervet (Cercopithecus albogularis). Among the mammals present there
are also noteworthy the Ader cephalopha (Cephalophus adersi), a
small endangered antelope, the suni (Neotragus moschatus) and the
servalina genet of Zanzibar (Genetta servalina archeri), a small and
elusive carnivorous viverride la whose presence in the area has been
documented thanks to photographic traps. The Zanzibar leopard
(Panthera pardus adersi) was once thought to be extinct in the park
as throughout the island, but a video made with a video trap in the
Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park in 2017 showed that it is still
present.
Also well represented is the avifauna which includes
endemic species such as the Fischer turaco (Tauraco fischeri subsp.
Zanzibaricus), the greenish bulbul (Eurillas virens subsp.
Zanzibaricus), the nettarinia chiazzerosse (Cyanomitra veroxii
subsp. Zanzibarica), the western nettarinia olivacea ( Cyanomitra
obscura subsp. Granti) (also present on the island of Pemba) and the
bearded nightingale of Zanzibar (Cercotrichas quadrivirgata subsp.
Greenwayi) (also present on the island of Mafia). Other species that
can be observed in the park are: the testabruna parrot (Poicephalus
cryptoxanthus), the kingfisher of the mangroves (Halcyon
senegaloides), the ventrenero starling (Lamprotornis corruscus), the
akelat of the east coast (Sheppardia gunningi) and the red bishop of
Zanzibar (Euplectes nigroventris).
Among the amphibians, the
endemic frog of Jozani (Kassina jozani) is worth mentioning.