Sea Turtles & Community Conservation

Since Zanzibar is the world’s only home to the endangered Colobus monkey, the need to protect this important species goes without saying.  Conservationists are working hard with local populations to establish community projects that bring in revenue to repay farmers when the monkeys make a meal out of their crops.  We had the opportunity to visit some of these project sites.  We visited fisheries and tortoise protection sites.  We also had the opportunity to see where locals were collaborating with scientists to protect the endangered green sea turtles.  These beautiful creatures are sought after for their meat and their shell for jewelry and decorations.  They are raised in a natural coral sanctuaries where they live until they are ready to breed and are released into the warm waters of the Indian Ocean.