Tortoises of Changuu

Changuu is a tiny coral island just off Zanzibar, surrounded by reef and picture-prefect turquoise waters. In the 1890s the authorities built a prison here, but it ended up as a quarantine station for foreigners arriving by ship and infected with disease.

These days the remaining buildings make up a rather isolated hotel, but the island is most famous for its giant tortoises, sent here from the Seychelles as a gift in 1919. They are kept inside a large, muddy enclosure and the rules are fairly relaxed – it’s more like an open wildlife park than zoo, and visitors are free to feed and touch the giant creatures.

Though endangered in the wild, they number around 100 here. The oldest tortoises are absolutely huge – they mostly seem to sit still, or crawl forwards very, very slowly, a sort of dopey dinosaur. Their shells feel like iron, incredibly hard, while their skins are leathery and very tough. They like munching spinach – when they eat they actually extend their legs and necks to peck like a baby eagle, sharp beak, long tongue and sharp teeth tearing the leaves.