prison island - changuu private island

JoeJin

从石头城到监狱岛坐船半小时左右。这个小岛以前是监狱，现在是陆龟天堂和酒店。这里沙白海清。陆龟安静的生活在这里。旧时的监狱让我觉得是不能离开的豪华酒店。现在这里宁静舒适，远离喧嚣。

Vacationlovercalgary

Not much happening there other than the tortoises. Beach is lovely. Would have liked a more extensive tour of the prison/quarantine.

735marekp

The island is good for visit just for the turtles from Mauritius. But not living here, just farm. Good for touching, for photos. One small beach for swimming there with white sand - nice, but small and many people there.No more special in the Island - maybe old prison.......but for me not so much interesting. Better is slave market in Stone Town.Is trip just for 1hour from Stone Town and half hour back by the small ship.Better is more activities in one day - no just prison island.

trokadero1

The land turtles are up to 190 years old. It's an awesome experience for young and old. I have never seen such huge and old turtles in my life before. Even if they are kept in park with boardwalks its a great feeling to see them there. It's worth the trip.

francescosI8804MW

If you like snorkeling then this is a good spot. Hire a boat from the small beach in stone town near the Diving shop and go there for a few hours. The boats rent snorkeling equipment if you haven't got it. You can also sea tortoise there

Lynnie2013

Prison IslandCertainly recommend doing a trip here. We hired a boat and I would suggest don’t book beforehand as we got a very good deal on the spot from Stone town itself. Infact our taxi guy was the one who hooked us up with the boat chap. It takes around 20 mins to get to prison island. Ensure you wear shorts coz if wearing jeans or long pants they will get wet as the boat stops in the water and you got to walk a bit to the shore. My kids enjoyed seeing the tortoises…there are several of them. We walked around a bit to the actual place where people were quarantined during the bubonic plague. The area is quite nice and makes for some lovely photographs. All in all a good trip

ssilfvast

Worth the time to visit, swim and be secluded. Snorkeling fair, swimming amazing. The history of the island is heart retching but very interesting

Fay98107

There are about 100-150 giant tortoises on the island that you can get up close and personal to. The old slave holding area which was later turned into a prison (but was used as a quarantine center) has sadly been turned into a restaurant rather than kept in its original state. This is disappointing but I wouldn't discourage a trip to the island as the boat ride over is pleasant and a swim in the ocean and/or some snorkeling just off of the beach makes this a nice half day time excursion. Cost to see the tortoises is $4 and the boat ride over, our guide, and snorkeling was $20 each (2 people)

NiallHar

For $25 we were taken by boat from Stone Town to just off the island for some snorkeling, which having never done this before, I really enjoyed. The real highlight though was the giant tortoise sanctuary on the island itself, where you can see, pet and feed tortoises (NOT turtles, they are land-based so they are tortoises) that are ridiculously old - the oldest being 191, meaning it was born even before Queen Victoria came to the throne. Pretty decent information at the sanctuary and some on the history of the island, although reading about the history of the prison and leper colony which has now become a pretty average looking hotel was somewhat bizarre.

Safarijenny

Very quiet on the island but interesting to see huge and extremely old turtles. The beaches are beautiful and we also had an opportunity to snorkel at the reef. That was great fun and we had a most enjoyable day.Can barter for the price for the tour.

T9436MQchristineh

Since the old jail was incorporated into a hotel that was built on the island, the whole situation changed. Before that, it was worth a visit, and a walk around the island. Now, that is impossible, so all it's worth going to for, are the wonderful giant tortoises (held in an enclosure for protection). Personally, I think there are better experiences to be had in Zanzibar.

csdavis23

We took a boat over to Prison Island for $30. We saw giant tortoises, some as old as 190. As you might imagine at that age, they were slow moving. Nothing like those young 105-year-old whipper snappers, zipping around here and there. It's better the old tortoises go slow, though. Otherwise, they might throw a hip out.Then my granddaughter swam on the beach. That was fun.

751jonathanw

My Wife and I were having breakfast at the Tembo Hotel and walked across to the beach asked the guy on the boat how much and 20 mins later we were off.We were the first ones to arrive and the early morning provided a flat crossing. After a few dollars entry we were gobsmacked with the Tortoises. Visiting the island was a great way to spend the morning. I didn't prepare for snorkeling and to be honest the heat was stifling with no wind in the small forest like surrounding.Prison tour was enjoyable and the sea views great.Tortoises were worth the trip alone.

cocotravel2015

Amazing giant tortoises, up to 191 years of age. Interesting talk about the conservation of them and the origins of prison island.

396bigb

Very good opportunity to meet with the turtles, different age/size. You can touch/feed/observe them.And several nice landscapes, snorkeling might be also good around the island (I didn't do that personally but others did and enjoy). Beach is very nice but no beds/umbrellas. A lot of shade in the center of this small island.You are being delivered to the island by the medium size boats so calm sea is preferred time for this trip.