Jozani Things to Do

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No visit to Jozani Forrest would be complete without a tour of the Chwaka Bay Mangrove Swamp across the road. Mangroves are strange trees that have intricate root systems above the ground that actually hold the tree up. Because the swamp is in ‘brackish water’, a mixture of sea salt water and fresh, the Mangroves grow as an extension of a mother tree. The seeds cannot grow in the water, so it must use this unique process to reproduce.

The whole area is lined with infinitely long boardwalks that take you through the grove. Small black crabs scurry underneath and eat the broad Mangrove leaves that fall down to where they are. Occasional birds, fish and the odd Colobus or Blue Monkey are also seen.

Just inside the Mangrove Swamp is a plaque that celebrates the agreement between 8 local villages and the Government not to kill the Colobus Monkeys. The villages are: Chwaka, Pongwe, Uroa, Marumbi, Mapopwe, Charawe, Ukongoroni and Michamvi. The Colobus are destructive to trees in their eating habits. Locals used to kill them and they almost made them extinct. The Government agreed to pay the 8 villages not to kill them and the agreement has held.