Hi there my Hivean friends and followers!
As promised several times in my previous posts about Zanzibar, I ´m excited to finally take you to the one and only national park of this extraordinary Tanzanian archipelago, the famous Jozani National Park. Located in the southern half of the Unguja Island, the park is officially called the Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park (as you can see in the picture below depicting the welcome sign at the entrance gate) but it´s usually refer to just as "Jozani".
Occupying an area of just some 50 sq km (19 sq mi), the park must be one of the smallest national parks that I have ever visited but the place is literally packed with incredibly rich and diverse nature so I totally enjoyed every single minute that we got to spend there. Right after entering the park, you will find yourself surrounded by this amazingly dense, lush and green tropical vegetation.
I don´t remember everything that our guide told us but I know that even though the park is so small, there are actually hundreds of different species of plants and trees to be found there, many of which are used in the traditional Swahili medicine. Some of the species are also endemic, which means that they only live on this island and nowhere else.
Literally just a few meters into the park tour, we started to find the first little curious inhabitants of the forest...
I wish we could stay longer as I would love to explore the park thoroughly and find as many of its creatures as possible but unfortunately, our time there was quite limited so the guide wasted no time and took us to meet the most famous animal of the park, an iconic monkey species known as the Zanzibar Red Colobus. As the name of this adorable furry creature suggests, it´s an endemic species too.
The monkeys are pretty small with adults weighing just around 10 kg (22 lb) on average and from what I observed, they spend most of their time in the tree canopies, feeding on tropical fruits, seeds, shoots and leaves. As you can see below, they have this super cool "haircut" :) It was not so difficult to take even these close up pictures of them as they are obviously used to the human presence. There was a lot of people trying to photograph the monkeys but I didn´t have to worry about the furry fellas´ comfort as whenever they felt disturbed by the people, they would just climb up higher on the trees, out of the reach of the cameras :)
It was a really nice and special experience to be able to hang out with the monkeys for a while, watch them playing and doing their things in their natural environment but we had to carry on. After that, out tour continued in a very different kind of environment. The mangrove forests are a part of the national park too.
We already knew the mangroves from our travels around Central America and we used to see them very often when we lived in Mexico so these were not new to us but the mangroves are such amazing trees / shrubs that I could observe them for hours every time I see some :) I´m pretty sure I wrote a whole post about mangroves and how important they are for nature but I cannot find it.
In Mexico, mangrove forests like these were often home to crocodiles. As far as I know, there are no crocs on Zanzibar but I´m sure these places are extremely rich in fauna as well. Actually, that reminds me another thing about the park that should be mentioned here. In the past, the Jozani National Park used to be home to the elusive Zanzibar Leopard and while the guides like to say that this magnificent beast may still live there, I´m pretty sure it´s not true. The leopard hasn´t been seen for more than 20 years so most official wildlife organizations actually consider the animal to be extinct. It´s really sad and I would love to believe the rumours but considering the tiny size of the park and the crowds of visitors walking around the forest every day, it´s literally impossible that the leopards would be living there without been seen for so long. But I don´t want to wrap up this post in this melancholic way. It really is an amazing place that every nature would enjoy so much and I cannot recommend it highly enough ;)
So that´s it for today, thanks for your attention guys. I still have a few more posts about Zanzibar to make for you though so stay tuned. Until then... Hakuna Matata! :)
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Ach jaj, ja sa tak bojim zvieratiek, co maju viac ako 4 nozicky, ze ak by som videla tu stonozku, tak by som kricala tak, ze by ma poculi az na pevninu 😁 a urcite by som vystrasila tie mile opicky. Ja viem, ze by mi nic nespravila, ale ked ja sa stale tak zlaknem a neviem to ovladat 🤔
Super vegetacia, vyzera to ako dazdovy prales. A co by som ja dala za to, keby sa mojim papradiam doma takto darilo 😁
Dalsi paradny post. Tesim sa, ze ich bude este viac 😉
Já teda ten tvůj strach nesdílím, ale vím dobře, o čem mluvíš, protože moje přítelkyně je na tom stejně jako ty :D Tu stonožku teda viděla taky a obešlo se to bez křiku, ale když vidí škorpiona, velkého pavouka nebo švába, tak to je slyšet hodně daleko :D A že jsme si téhle havěti za ty roky v tropech užili...
Joo, prales byl nádherný. Vlhký, zelený, plný vůní a zvuků džungle. To se prostě neomrzí, vždycky mě to dostane :) Btw sranda tyhle "papradiny". Česky to jsou "kapradiny" :D
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Wow, thank you so much Pauline! What a nice surprise and honor as I know how many quality posts are pinned to Pinmapple every day these days :) Really means a lot.
Hola @phortun. Que sorpresa nos llevamos al ver esta maravillosa publicación, es otra paisaje en Zanzibar, el color azul cambió a verde. Increíble vegetación y estupenda experiencia con los monos. Lastima el poco tiempo en el parque pero suficiente para el registro fotográfico de esta experiencia. Ya nos dimos un paseo por las pasadas publicaciones que nos perdimos y que son increíbles también, la de los animales domésticos que por cierto, esperamos le devuelvan la visibilidad a esa publicación y además apreciamos la anterior sobre el cultivo de algas, fue bueno verte con una carita feliz en algunas fotos :D ayudando a los niños a cargar algas. Bueno amigo, esperamos estar más atentos a las próximas publicaciones sobre Zanzibar. Un abrazo.
Tú publicación ha recibido un voto de parte de "Autismo: Un Mundo Excepcional" ahora con presencia en HIVE, gracias a su Proyecto @mundo.autismo.
Hello @phortun. What a surprise to see this wonderful publication, it is another landscape in Zanzibar, the blue color changed to green. Incredible vegetation and great experience with the monkeys. Pity the short time in the park but enough for the photographic record of this experience. We already took a walk through the past publications that we missed and that are incredible too, the one about the domestic animals that by the way, we hope you give back the visibility to that publication and we also appreciate the previous one about the algae cultivation, it was good to see you with a happy face in some pictures :D helping the kids to load algae. Well friend, we hope to be more attentive to the next posts about Zanzibar. A hug.
Your post has received a vote from "Autism: An Exceptional World " now with a presence in HIVE, thanks to their Project @mundo.autismo.
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Wow, thank you guys! I can see you really did read the previous posts too, that´s so kind of you! I thank you so much for all the attention and support that you have been giving to my Zanzibar posts :) I really appreciate it!
It's fascinating Zanzibar. Thanks to you @phortun for your content and also for your support 💙
What a magnificent experience you have had visiting this fabulous park @phortun friend.... And this article is a wonderful way to share it with us.... WHAT PHOTOS HOLY HEAVENS!.... An article like for a magazine!!!!.... Excellent, thank you so much for sharing!....
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Thanks so much for this kind feedback and for the curation my friend! You are too kind though, we both know that from the technical perspective, the pictures are not really good. The contrast between the sun peeking through the holes in the canopy and the shades was just too strong for my old phone camera to handle. Eventually, some parts of the photos are overexposed while others are underexposed. But I´m really happy to see that people still enjoy the pictures ;)
Oh @phortun friend... I am (or so I pretend 😂) a street photographer, and believe me I know exactly what it's like to face environmental conditions that make my photos "technically imperfect"... That's why I learned to appreciate my photos and everyone's photos, from an "emotional" point of view... And your photos in this post are so good that it's like walking through that park and saying hello to that beautiful monkey!... That's why that everyone liked!... A hug and a big greeting to you, my dear friend!...
Aww, thanks buddy :) I really like your approach to appreciate photos from the emotional perspective rather from the technical one but you know, for us, OCD affected people, it´s difficult to be happy with photos that are not perfect but I will try to adopt and apply your technique :D Thanks!
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It saddens me when I hear of another animal on the extinct list. I have hope in my soul that it is out there, somewhere. Maybe.
What a face on that monkey! :) I like to photograph monkeys as they are downright fun to watch, but, I don't want to hold them. I know, silly right? I know. But, I will just keep my camera clicking.
What a tunny walk through the canopy! I just caught the tail end of this post, but, it is spectacular! You don't get scenery like this every day!
Hey Denise! Unfortunately, the chances of the leopards surviving somewhere on the island are literally next to zero. The park is really small and from what I saw and heard, the only forest of the island is actually in the park so there are no more possible locations where the leopards could be :(
The monkeys were so much though! Thank you very much for checking out the shots, have an amazing weekend!
💚🥰
Jambo, jambo bwana, habari gani, mzuri sana!
;)
Nice photos, man. And thanks for the virtual trip. Reading this felt like I was there. I took some jungle photography tips from this post, so chances are if I'm ever writing a jungle adventure blog, some of my photo styles are going to resemble some of yours. haha I hope you don't mind.
I've never been this proximal to monkeys in their habitat. Only few times I've been this close to them, they're mostly domesticated. I'm honestly surprised how close these guys allowed you to get such fine up-close shots.
Also, I've never seen the mangrove in person. It's a thing of the movies for me.
As for the leopard, your presumption makes sense. Leopards are not animals that would be able to lay so low and be unspotted for 20 good years. The chances of their extinction are almost certain, unfortunately.
Thanks man! :) Glad that you liked the shots and even got inspired by them but I´m actually not so happy with how some of them turned out. In fact, taking pictures in such a dense jungle is very challenging for the camera (especially if you shoot just with an old phone like me :D) as the contrast between the sun peeking through the holes in the canopy and the shades is just too strong... Eventually, some parts of the photos are overexposed while others are underexposed :/
Was a pleasure to introduce you to the monkey and the mangroves ;) Cheers!
Yeah I get what you mean. Haha what you’re disappointed about are expert level stuff. The average person won’t notice these stuff. Lol. The forest itself (and the animals) is beautiful enough already and I’m excited to try shooting from some of the angles you have. They seem to provide good pictures and views:)
Cool, enjoy! :) When surrounded by tall trees, the low angle (aiming upwards) is often the only option to get some decent pictures. Have fun and let me know when you post some of those pictures.
Sure will. Won’t be soon though as I don’t have any plans of traveling right now. Thanks, man:)
Your first couple of pictures look like it's in our country, pretty much similar to our mountains and forest so dense and lash. Would be hard for an Animal lover to step in that place and just spend a short time. I would say that's one of the coolest places to check out. definitely beautiful, thanks for sharing, love it and everything in it. ❤️
Thank you for this lovely feedback Franz :) You are right, after seeing your entries to my nature photography challenge, I agree that this place looks similar to some of those that you shared with us ;) Beautiful, lush, pristine, dense wilderness, that´s what we love ;)
Awesome… to bad you didn’t have enough time to explore much more of the park and it’s creatures.
You did see a lovely part of it. And the monkeys 😊
Very cool.
Thanks for taking us along.
Have a wonderful week @phortun 👋🏻
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Aww, thank you :) Hopefully, this was not our last time in the park. There are more animals living there that I would love to meet :) Have a great day too!
You are welcome, hope you can visit again!
It sounds stunning.
Thank you so much 👋🏻😊
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This looks amazing, and that centipede is ammmm scary :)
It was actually pretty big, at least 10 cm I would say :D Thanks for swinging by!
Can see that yeah. A giant ;)
Wuaoooo! What an incredible place! What amazing pictures and the welcome sign is great too! And yes the monkey haircut looks cool and fun hahaha.
Gracias amiga! :) Yeah, the monkeys seem to be huge fans of fashion :D Glad that you liked the shots. Greetings to all Venezuelans in Poland! :)
If only time wasn't limited, but t'was. Having a tour guide can be so hassle especially if you still want to enjoy and take time to explore the place. Anyway, those are beautiful monkeys I really love to see. Nice shots!😍
Thank you very much. Yeah, our schedule was busy that day, we actually got to see cool places in other parts of the island that day too. Next time, I will reserve more time for the park :)
This national park is amazing, love the pure nature, love that raw green color, love the photos you took, a perfect combination for an amazing post.
P.S.I think in some places if I were you I would be afraid of snakes, hehe.
Thanks man, I´m glad you enjoyed this little tour :) Well, the guide told us there was nothing to be afraid in the park but I just googled it out and apparently, there are venomous snakes on Zanzibar too :D
Just the thought that in one place I might encounter venomous snakes makes me think twice about whether or not to go there, I am very afraid of them.
Yeah, I hear you. You have to careful in the jungle. I remember almost stepping on a coral snake in Costa Rica. Or almost touching the bullet ants when navigating around the trees. The jungle is a fascinating but dangerous place ;)
You are right, if we want to enjoy nature then we have to respect it, I was one day last summer here in the hills of western Romania and I came across a snake, I leave you a picture.
Wow, that´s a beautiful specimen, thanks for sharing! But nothing for those with ophidiophobia :D
Yes of course, on our walk up the hill I thought the snakes had gone into the ground because the cold had come, but unfortunately my wife almost stepped on it.
I showed several pictures of him to some reptile specialists and guess what, they told me that such specimens should not be found here in our area.
This specimen was huge I think it was over 3 meters long and quite thick.
I like such wild parks, they are amazing. It must be exciting while going through there. I think one could be in danger even visinting with a guide.
Thanks for the photos and taking us to there.
Well, it depends on the location. In Costa Rica, for example, there is a lot dangerous animals in the national parks and we had to be very careful when we were there. But here on Zanzibar, there are no animals that can really hurt you... No scorpions, no venomous snakes... At least that´s what they told us :)
I will gladly love to around those monkeys , the national park really looks amazing.
Thanks :) It was a pleasure to take you there through this post.
So nice @phortun! This centipede looks like those cartoon ones... And these monkeys? A better definition of "bad hair day" hahaha hahaha
Thank you my friend! Is is a bad hair day or cool hair day? :D I don´t know but either way, they seem not to care at all :D
Spectacular place! Of course the monkeys never disappoint visitors and with that hairstyle even less hehehe. How nice to see mangroves, they are very important for the balance of the area, here in Venezuela there are many in different parts. Very nice shots!
Thank you Sofia! :) I´m sure you know everything about the mangroves and their important functions in nature, I was really impressed when I "met" them for the first time. Too bad I cannot find the post that I wrote about the mangroves... It could have been 4 years ago so that would be a looot of scrolling on my blog :D :/
I know a little bit about them because here they are more common hehe. Hey, maybe you will find this useful: I have a word document where I write down the posts I publish with their respective links, so I can find it easier if I need to check something, of course, with the amount of posts you have created it would take you a week to do it hahaha, but I think it's worth the effort :)
That´s a cool tip, thank you! I might start doing it from now on but I don´t feel like going through all the posts that I ever have published here to write down the links, there might be a thousand of them :D :/
Must be so interesting to observe animals in their own habitats instead of discovering them locked down in some cages at the zoo! Love the nature too 😍
Exactly :) I think no true nature lover can enjoy observing animals locked up in cages. They belong in the wild and that´s where watching them is the best ;) Thanks for stopping by Gabriela!
WOW this is no joke quality post ! @beardoin check that out !
Just looked over now, this is great! proper with nature with animals in their home.
Although that Millipede, eeeeeeeeek! thats a size!
🐛
Thanks for checking out the pictures and sorry for making you uncomfortable with that leggy fella :D
Yeah thats a scary one , i was thinking the same 😅
Oh my word, I do not know how I would react if I saw that for real in person! 🙃😱😂
It´s just a millipede, scorpions or spiders are worse ;)
Haha, yeah but now I'm curious just how big it was!
Oh yeah totally avoiding those other two beasties 😂
It was about 10 cm (4 in) long :)
Thank you! :)
Such a unique hairstyle ;) I loved the style of these little monkeys and also virtually roaming the entire park. I'm so sorry about the leopards. Is there any chance that they are not extinct but have taken refuge elsewhere? Hopefully it will be like that.
Great post and great photos, thank you ❣️.
Thanks for this nice comment Laura, what a nice surprise :) Well, as for the leopards, I´m afraid they are gone :( The park is really small and from what I saw and heard, the only forest of the island is actually in the park so there are no more possible locations where the leopards could be :(
What beautiful landscapes and animals there are in that place reminds me of my beautiful Venezuela.
Thanks :) Well, tropical regions around the world look similar in certain ways ;) Saludos to Venezuela!
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Thanks for your support guys! :)
Very beautiful photography of nature.
Thanks!
These are amazing pictures, it's really awesome to be in nature, and taking pictures of like these brings back memories 😊😊😊
Thanks, glad that you enjoyed this little photography tour :)
Lots of green and I love that 💚. In a place like this, it makes you want to stay longer, the photos are great! Thank you for introducing us to this beautiful place.
Well said. And nice to meet another nature lover btw :) Thanks for visiting my blog!
I love the monkey's haircut 😍 😃😆
Me too! :D I actually used to wear a similar haircut during my "punx not dead" period on high school :D Thanks for stopping by!
Yay! More Zanzibar!! 🙌🙌🙌 !LUV !ALIVE
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Thank you! :) Until now, I mostly posted about the people of Zanzibar and now I finally get to the local nature as well ;)
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Thanks for the badge guys, always a pleasure to join the HPUD ;)
Congrats on earning your Power Up Bee badge @phortun!
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Nice clicks...
Thanks :)
Wonderful journey,,,👍
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wow place looks so wonderful I enjoyed while watching your whole post. ❤️
Blessing ⭐
Thank you very much for this nice feedback, I´m glad you enjoyed the tour :)