More recently, the island has become a government-owned tourist resort and houses a collection of endangered Aldabra giant tortoises which were originally a gift from the British governor of the Seychelles.

[4][5] Mathews purchased Changuu from its Arab owners on behalf of the Zanzibar government in 1893 with the intention of building a prison upon it.

[1] The British authorities were concerned by the risk of disease epidemics affecting Stone Town, then East Africa's main port.

To combat this threat Changuu was turned into a quarantine island serving all of the British territories in East Africa.

[3] Ships typically only arrived in East Africa during the period running from December to March and so the island was usually empty of quarantine cases for a large part of the year.

[1] During the empty period the island became a popular leisure resort for European people and local residents of Zanzibar.

A building, known as the European Bungalow, was built in the late 1890s to cater for the holiday makers although the number of visitors had to be limited as the only freshwater on the island was rainwater stored in underground tanks.

[2] There are 15 holiday cottages in the northwest of the island as well as a tennis court, swimming pool and library and the old European Bungalow has been turned into a restaurant named after Mathews.