The wildlife of Zanzibar consists of terrestrial and marine flora and fauna in the archipelago of Zanzibar, an autonomous region of Tanzania. Its floral vegetation is categorized among the coastal forests of eastern Africa as the Southern Zanzibar-Inhambane coastal forest mosaic and the Northern Zanzibar-Inhambane coastal forest mosaic. Its faunal species are mostly small animals, birds, and butterflies. The main island of Zanzibar, Unguja, has fauna which reflects its connection to the African mainland during the last ice age. The Zanzibar leopard, an endemic subspecies of the island that may now be extinct, is conjectured to have evolved after the island became separated from the mainland at Tanzania consequent to a rise of the sea level at the end of the ice age. The laws applicable to the wildlife of Tanzania under the Tanzanian Wildlife Act also govern the flora and fauna of Zanzibar. Wild areas are protected in many reserves and Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park. The Zanzibar Forestry Development Project and Zanzibar Integrated Land Development Project are two important projects which address wildlife surveys and monitoring. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and IUCN are involved in many wildlife project related activities on the islands.
Geography
The World Wildlife Fund divides the coastal forests into two ecoregions: the Northern Zanzibar-Inhambane coastal forest mosaic, which extends from southern Somalia through coastal Kenya to southern Tanzania, and includes the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, and the Southern Zanzibar-Inhambane coastal forest mosaic, which extends from southern Tanzania along the Mozambique coast to the mouth of the Limpopo River. Natural habitats in this ecoregion have been largely replaced by areas under cultivation for food production and spices (cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, pepper, ginger and cardamom, grown mostly in Zanzibar and Pemba Island) for export. The remaining natural forest habitat is now located in the Jozani Chwaka bay region (southwest) and the Kiwenga forest in the northeast and the coral rag thicket. The wildlife in the Zanzibar Archipelago is spread over Zanzibar's land area and also along the coastline. Some species are threatened or have become extinct due to indiscriminate hunting over the years. In Zanzibar, the only national park is Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park; there are also forest reserves, namely Ngezi Forest Reserve, Kiwengwa/Pongwe Forest Reserve, Kidike Root Site and Zala Park. Zanzibar's marine fauna reflects the rich marine diversity of East Africa. The parks devoted to the protection of Zanzibar's marine resources are Chumbe Marine Park, Mnemba Marine Park, Misali Marine Park, Menai Marine Park, Tumbatu Island, Chapwani Island and Changuu Island.
Climate Temperatures recorded at Zanzibar town show a maximum of 33 °C (91 °F) recorded in March and minimum of 23 °C (73 °F) from July to September. Annual rainfall is 1,360 millimetres (54 in); it peaks in April and May at 310 and 290 millimetres (12 and 11 in), respectively, drops to 25 millimetres (0.98 in) in July and August, and recovers to 180 and 135 millimetres (7.1 and 5.3 in) in November and December.
Protected areas
National park
Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park (JCBNP) is the only national park in Zanzibar, covering an area of 50 square kilometres (19 sq mi), occupying the largest near-natural forest area on Zanzibar." It is in the island of Unguja. Habitats within the park and associated protected lands include groundwater forest, coastal forest, and grassland, with mangrove forest and salt marsh on the coast. The fa species found here are the Zanzibar red colobus (Piliocolobus kirkii), an endangered species (in the IUCN List) endemic monkey and the Aders's duiker; groups of the colobus monkeys are seen close to the park. Wading birds are recorded in the marshy areas along with seaweed. The coral rag in the park is the earliest settlement, which was exploited for agricultural development due to population pressure. However, with help from the government of Australia and CARE Tanzania, government of Zanzibar established the Jozani Chwaka Bay Conservation Project, in 1995. Zanzibar's first national park's maintenance is partly met from the revenue generated from entry fee charged on visitors to the park. This fee is also shared with the Jozani Conservation Society used to construct and operate schools and health clinics for local villages. The park has created many trails through the forest to watch birds and also an elevated board-walk to see the mangrove forest.
Wildlife reserves Ngezi forest reserve Ngezi Forest Reserve covers an area of 14.4 square kilometres (5.6 sq mi) and is in the northwestern tip of Pemba Island. It was declared a reserve in 1950 after most of the area had been denuded for cultivation of cloves. It still has high closed forest known as Ngezi forest extending right up to the beach at Vumawimbi. The forest types reported consist of coral bushes and thickets, thick grasses and bushes in the sandy-loam soils and Mtifutifu soils; dominant plant species are: Odyendea zimmermanni (mjoho), riverine forest of Barringtonia racemosa (mtomondo), Milicia excelsa (mvule), Alexandrian laurel (mtondoo), Erythrophleum spp. (mwavi), Antiarus spp. (mgulele), Chrisalidocarpus pembanus (mpapindi) and Terminalia catappa (mkungu), and mangrove forest. Avifauna recorded consists of 27 bird species in the forest, out of which the endemic species are hadada, the African goshawk, the palm-nut vulture, scops owl, the malachite kingfisher and the Pemba white-eye. Other faunal species consist of Pemba flying fox (large fruit-eating bat), the Pemba vervet monkey, the Zanzibar red colobus monkey, hyrax, Pemba blue duiker (an antelope about the size of a hare), feral pigs (introduced by the Portuguese), the Javan civet cat (introduced by southeast Asian traders for the production of musk) and marsh mongoose (an endemic carnivore).
Kiwengwa/Pongwe Forest Reserve
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
