Prison Island is also famously known as Changuu Island. The Island is located 5km away from Stone Town and is only accessible by boat. The Island was initially owned by an Arab who used it as a quarantine station for yellow fever epidemics. The Arab also used the Island as a confinement area for slaves. Later on the Island was bought by General Lloyd Mathews and a jail was built in 1893 which is currently owned by a hotel. The Island derived its name from the built prison. In 1919 the British Governor of Seychelles (Eustace Fiennes) sent presents to the first British resident of Zanzibar (Major F.B. Pearce) in form of four Aldabra tortoises (Aldabrachelys gigantea) to Prison Island.

These species are one of the largest in the world and are considered endangered by IUCN hence marked on the Red List. In exchange for the tortoises, specimens for a flowering plant was shipped back to Seychelles as a show of gratitude. Over the years, the population of the tortoises grew but poaching led to the decrease in numbers. World Animal Protection and the Zanzibar government combined efforts and built a large compound to protect the animals where they reside peacefully to date. Interestingly, some of the tortoises have their ages marked on the shells and some have lived for over a decade.

TBA