Wildlife of Zanzibar 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. The
Sultanate of Zanzibar furthered the country's progress toward abolishing slavery. According to the 16th-century explorer Leo Africanus, the native inhabitants of the Zanzibar (Zanguebar) sultanate were for the most part pagans with curly hair and a black complexion. However, the denizens of the northernmost Zanzibar kingdom of Malindi were Muslims of an almost white complexion, with some pagan black inhabitants among them. Until 1884, the Sultans of Zanzibar controlled a substantial portion of the Swahili Coast, known as Zanj, and trading routes extending further into the continent, as far as Kindu on the Congo River. That year, however, the Society for German Colonization