Jozani Sea Turtle Sanctuary
Jozani Sea Turtle Sanctuary
Jozani Sea Turtle Sanctuary
4.5
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
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4.5
30 reviews
Excellent
23
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1
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3
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1
cchanning1
Malmö, Sweden4 contributions
Jan 2020 • Family
The start of the visit was a bit strange as they wanted us to pay 20,000 each for 4 of us. It says it costs 10,000 per person on the website, so that is what we paid and I think that was a fair price for what it is. In general the whole thing is quite shabby with small poorly maintained enclosures.
I’m not sure what the rationale is behind keeping green sea turtles in a concrete pool with no shade. After being fortunate enough to see these beautiful creatures up close in the wild, I know for sure that they shouldn’t be kept in a place like that.
The project with the ‘milk fish’ makes sense and is good to see.
We were all quite disturbed by the conditions the monitor lizard is kept and was depicted as an evil creature. Again, after seeing these beautiful creatures in the wild with their complex social groups, it was sad to see one living alone like that.
The highlight was the giant tortoises. Their enclosure was good and they seemed very content. We all really enjoyed seeing them up close.
The walk back to the main road was the best part. We saw a troop of Colobus monkeys walking across the road.
I’m not sure what the rationale is behind keeping green sea turtles in a concrete pool with no shade. After being fortunate enough to see these beautiful creatures up close in the wild, I know for sure that they shouldn’t be kept in a place like that.
The project with the ‘milk fish’ makes sense and is good to see.
We were all quite disturbed by the conditions the monitor lizard is kept and was depicted as an evil creature. Again, after seeing these beautiful creatures in the wild with their complex social groups, it was sad to see one living alone like that.
The highlight was the giant tortoises. Their enclosure was good and they seemed very content. We all really enjoyed seeing them up close.
The walk back to the main road was the best part. We saw a troop of Colobus monkeys walking across the road.
Written January 3, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Laura P
Birmingham, UK14 contributions
May 2019 • Solo
The guide (shaury) was very caring and knowledgable. Really passionate about the animals and so were some of the other staff. This place could be better with investment. Bigger pools for the turtles for example, regular release programmes and maybe even some sand. The turtles were having to climb rocks in order to get to their food which is unnatural to them. Understandabley this is difficult to manage with minimal budget allotted but with the €10 entrance fee I'm sure more could be done
Written April 5, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Sanne G
19 contributions
Sep 2022 • Couples
They call it a sanctuary, but actually it is a community-farm where they keep a few animals to get extra income for the villagers. That is literally how the guide explained it. It is cool to see and to touch a turtle, but it is a fake story and not worth the 15 dollar per person.
Written September 20, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Luke P
Norwich, UK23 contributions
Oct 2021 • Family
Staff are really nice and the guide was very frieindly. However, it is a terrible place. The turtles are kept in captivity indefinitely. They say they are trying to keep them away from fisherman, but then they pay the fisherman to bring turtles to them and they keep them in a sad little brown rocky pool. It’s difficult not think that they are part of the problem. They also have other animals in there for no conservation reason too. Just to try and sell more entry tickets. We did ask, and that’s what our guide told us. Nobody else seemed to see a problem with this though. There’s absolutely no effort to recreate the animals natural habitat in the environment and they are isolated in concrete 1 meter squared enclosures. To top it off, people handle the turtles as if they are toys and one guy even sat on the giant tortoise.
It is honestly an awful place, which has no love for the animals they keep. It’s just for profit and a place where westerners can go to touch a turtle. Made myself and my partner feel a bit ill being here. I sadly recommend you don’t go here, stop giving these people money and maybe one day they’ll release the animals back into their natural environment… just to confirm, we are all for turtle conservation, hence visiting this place. But we were just shocked with what we found here. It really wasn’t acceptable. Have a bit of compassion and treat the animals with care. Exploitation at its worst.
It is honestly an awful place, which has no love for the animals they keep. It’s just for profit and a place where westerners can go to touch a turtle. Made myself and my partner feel a bit ill being here. I sadly recommend you don’t go here, stop giving these people money and maybe one day they’ll release the animals back into their natural environment… just to confirm, we are all for turtle conservation, hence visiting this place. But we were just shocked with what we found here. It really wasn’t acceptable. Have a bit of compassion and treat the animals with care. Exploitation at its worst.
Written October 6, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Volkmar
Austria5 contributions
Apr 2021
A great place to see turtles and tortoise, the guides are very knowledgable and friendly. They know everything about the hole natural ecosystem of Zanzibar, sea, land and agriculture.
Really recommend going there!
Really recommend going there!
Written May 2, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Henriette R
Espergaerde, Denmark31 contributions
Feb 2022 • Family
Very nice place, and very caring for the animals. Alex shire has the heart in the right place, and you really feel his passion for the turtles, other animals, the local people and the nature sorrunding the place!
Written February 12, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Shane B
Te Awamutu, New Zealand811 contributions
Oct 2019
We came across the Jozani Seat Turtle Sactuary when visiting Jozani forest to see the Monkeys, it is on the opposite side of the road to the reception for the Forest visit the road you take to visit the Mangrove swamp.
Entrance fee is just 10000 shilling per adult, our guide Shaurt was very passionate about what they do and and inspired us to try and get the place put on tripadvisor.
First thing we looked at was the fish farm which is a community project to help compensate the local villages for the loss the have due to the Colobus Monkeys as will be explained on the Forest tour by compensating the local communities they no longer drive off or in worse case kill the monkeys who eat their trees.
When then saw the turtle rescue pool where they keep turtles and eventually release them to the sea again, they also have a small breeding programme. There were various other animals different types of smaller turtles pythons, monitor lizards etc.
The highlight was the 4 giant tortoises who are kept in a large bushy compound well looked after and well treated. You can go into the compound with your guide who explains how to and how not to (sit on them, knock on shells etc) interact with them. They react positively much to our surprise to having their shells rubbed by their neck then extend their head and enjoy a pat, this happened a couple of times with us while in the compound.
Most people who go to ZZ go to Jozani forest to see the Colobus Monkeys add this place to your itinerary. Skip Prison Island which we chose to do after reading various reviews about how the tortoises there are kept and dealt with/handled by tourists. Go to this place and interact with these wonderful creatures in a positive way.
Entrance fee is just 10000 shilling per adult, our guide Shaurt was very passionate about what they do and and inspired us to try and get the place put on tripadvisor.
First thing we looked at was the fish farm which is a community project to help compensate the local villages for the loss the have due to the Colobus Monkeys as will be explained on the Forest tour by compensating the local communities they no longer drive off or in worse case kill the monkeys who eat their trees.
When then saw the turtle rescue pool where they keep turtles and eventually release them to the sea again, they also have a small breeding programme. There were various other animals different types of smaller turtles pythons, monitor lizards etc.
The highlight was the 4 giant tortoises who are kept in a large bushy compound well looked after and well treated. You can go into the compound with your guide who explains how to and how not to (sit on them, knock on shells etc) interact with them. They react positively much to our surprise to having their shells rubbed by their neck then extend their head and enjoy a pat, this happened a couple of times with us while in the compound.
Most people who go to ZZ go to Jozani forest to see the Colobus Monkeys add this place to your itinerary. Skip Prison Island which we chose to do after reading various reviews about how the tortoises there are kept and dealt with/handled by tourists. Go to this place and interact with these wonderful creatures in a positive way.
Written October 28, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Maxim P
1 contribution
Dec 2019
Great guide with a lot of passion for the great work being done at the sanctuary. The place has turtles but also some reptiles.
Written December 22, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Moritz_Germany
Germany2 contributions
Sep 2019
Had a great time at the sanctuary with our kids back beginning of September.
Low key and no hyped tourist place.
Their work is inspiring and we like the idea to support the local community!
Our kids enjoyed feeding the sea turtles with sea weed!
Low key and no hyped tourist place.
Their work is inspiring and we like the idea to support the local community!
Our kids enjoyed feeding the sea turtles with sea weed!
Written November 9, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Sophie Therese
9 contributions
Jul 2019 • Couples
It was a great experience. They told us some Things about their educational Work and The people working there are very Diligent and everyone is really friendly
Written November 7, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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