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A Zanzibar red colobus sits in a mango tree at the edge of a farm, chewing slowly, a tuft of pale hair standing up from its head as if it had just woken. Below it is a kiln-blackened patch of ground. Later in the day it may come down and eat a piece of the charcoal. That small, strange habit says most of what matters about this animal: it is a forest monkey that has learned to live among people, on an island that is losing its forest.
This page tells the species' story: what it is, why it is rare and who protects it. The visit itself, with guide, fee and timing, belongs to our Jozani Forest experience page.
The story
One island, one monkey. The species is endemic to Unguja: it occurs naturally nowhere else on earth. It is also called Kirk's red colobus, after Sir John Kirk, Britain's representative in Zanzibar, who first brought it to scientific attention. Locals have long called it kima punju, "poison monkey", a name rooted in local superstition that did the species no favours. Groups are social, averaging about 17 animals in the 2017 census, with roughly 3.3 adult females for every adult male. About three-quarters of infants are born between September and December, and many do not survive their first six months.
A diet that needs help. Red colobus eat young leaves, shoots, seeds, flowers and unripe fruit, digested slowly in a specialised stomach. That is why they sit for long periods rather than roam, and why human food harms them. In farmland around Jozani they feed heavily on the young leaves of introduced Indian almond and mango trees. Those leaves carry defensive plant compounds. In 1997 Thomas Struhsaker, David Cooney and Kirstin Siex published a study of one of the species' oddest habits: the monkeys eat charcoal, picked from kiln sites and cooking places. The explanation researchers give is that charcoal binds some of those compounds, letting the monkeys live on a diet that would otherwise trouble them.
Why it lives near farms. In the 2017 census about 4,000 of the 5,862 animals (roughly 69%) were inside protected areas, and many groups live in shambas, the Swahili word for farms, close to Jozani-Chwaka Bay National Park. The remaining 1,800 or so live in farmland and coral-rag forest. The farm trees give them food; the charcoal helps them digest it. It is a useful arrangement, but a fragile one. Charcoal and firewood are also among the reasons Zanzibar is losing an estimated 3% of its forest each year, alongside shifting cultivation and the cutting of building poles. The same fuel that helps a monkey digest a mango leaf is helping clear the forest it depends on.
How many are there? Earlier estimates put the population at about 1,600 to 3,000. A systematic census by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), published in 2017 in the journal Oryx, counted 5,862 animals in 342 groups. The authors also report low recruitment (few young animals joining the population) and warn of possible decline outside protected areas. The species is small in number and confined to one densely populated island, with more than 400 people per square kilometre: the reasons it is listed as Endangered.
New dangers, small solutions. Researchers recorded roadkill on the road through Jozani from January 2016 to December 2019. Primates made up most of the animals killed. In some colobus groups, deaths from vehicles were comparable to what other primate populations lose to natural predators. Hunting, the pet trade and loss of coral-rag forest on smaller islands such as Uzi and Vundwe add to the pressure. In mangroves on Uzi, one study logged 326 drinking events over 14 months, unusual for a colobus, a sign of how the species adapts when its usual habitat shrinks.
The conservation story. Jozani-Chwaka Bay was declared a national park in 2004, and entrance fees have helped build schools and health clinics in surrounding villages. WCS helped design a wider protected-area network that includes the park and the Kiwengwa–Pongwe Forest Reserve, set up community forest-management agreements and trained government and community forest guardians from 2009. Not every effort worked. An early attempt to move animals to Ngezi Forest on Pemba did not establish a lasting population. The lesson the island took is that this monkey is best protected where it already lives, with the people who share its land.
Key facts
| Scientific name | Piliocolobus kirkii (also Kirk's red colobus) |
|---|---|
| Range | Unguja (Zanzibar's main island) only |
| IUCN status | Endangered (2019 assessment) |
| Population | 5,862 in the 2017 census; about 1,600–3,000 in earlier estimates |
| Group size | About 17 animals on average (2017 census) |
| Diet | Young leaves, shoots, seeds, flowers, unripe fruit; also charcoal |
| Births | About 76% between September and December |
| Main threats | Forest loss (an estimated 3% a year), road collisions, hunting |
| Key protected area | Jozani-Chwaka Bay National Park, declared 2004 |
How to experience it
What and where. The reliable place to see red colobus is Jozani-Chwaka Bay National Park, on a guided walk; our Jozani Forest page covers the route, timing and entry. Groups in nearby farmland are part of the same population, but those trees belong to farmers. Do not walk onto a shamba to find monkeys without the landowner's or your guide's permission.
When and with whom. Go with a park guide. Mornings are cooler and the monkeys are often active. Guides come from surrounding villages, and paying the park fee is part of how the forest pays its way.
Etiquette that protects them. Keep several metres back and let the monkeys decide the distance. Never feed them, and do not offer charcoal for a photograph; their diet is precise and easily upset. Keep your voice low and your flash off. Drivers should slow right down through the forest section.
Cost. Entry fees apply at the park gate, and the Jozani Forest page sets out what to expect on the day.
Why it matters to how we travel
A monkey found on one island is a reminder that a holiday here passes through someone's home. A good colobus morning uses a guide from the community, a slower road and a fee that reaches the forest, and a travel designer can plan it that way. Pair the colobus with the seaweed farmers' story or a spice farm, and the island's farms start to make sense as working places.
This story is for you if you like your wildlife quiet, close and rare, or you are travelling with children who will remember a monkey at eye level. It may not be if you are hoping for big-game drama; for that, pair Zanzibar with a mainland safari. The forest walk is short, the monkeys are often seen close to the path rather than high in the trees, and the forest gets busier in the middle of the morning in high season.
Journeys to consider
- Shores of Zanzibar — Stone Town and the coast, with time for the forest on the road east. → See Shores of Zanzibar
- Southern Safari & Spice — Tanzania's southern parks, then an island where the wildlife is small, rare and close. → See Southern Safari & Spice
- Ten nights in Zanzibar — the longer island journey, with room for a forest morning. → See the ten-night journey
