What Kidike is for
Kidike is a roost of the Pemba flying fox, Pteropus voeltzkowi, a large fruit bat found on Pemba and nowhere else. It sits on agricultural land in the Chake Chake area and it has been, for years, the place visitors are taken to see the animal. The species is listed as Vulnerable.
The bat is genuinely worth the detour. What has changed is whether Kidike is the place to look for it, and the honest answer is now complicated enough to be worth setting out properly rather than hinting at.
The numbers, in full
A survey carried out in 2024 and published in Oryx in 2026 counted the island’s flying foxes roost by roost. Two things came out of it, and quoting either without the other misleads.
The first is that the roost at Kidike has collapsed. It held somewhere between 3,394 and 4,978 animals in 2008. In 2024 it held 1,491.
The second is that the species has not. The island-wide population was 4,608 to 5,450 in 1995, recovered to 18,200 to 22,100 by 2008, and stood at 25,328 to 27,412 in 2024. Measured across Pemba, this is one of the better conservation stories in the region, not a decline.
What happened is that the bats moved. In 2024, 72.5 per cent of them were roosting in urban centres, with the colonies at Chake Chake and Wete alone holding 58.7 per cent of every flying fox on the island. The survey’s own explanation is that the animals are avoiding disturbance — principally hunting by children — and towns are where that disturbance is least.
What that means for a visit
A forest sanctuary visit may show far fewer bats than the reputation suggests, and it will show a fraction of what is on the island. That is not a reason to skip it: 1,491 animals is still a roost, the walk and the setting are their own thing, and seeing the species at all is the point. It is a reason not to build a day around a bat spectacle, and a reason to be sceptical of any figure in the tens of thousands attached to this particular site.
The other honest note is about what is published. No authority describes how visiting Kidike works — hours, guiding, who runs it, what is paid and to whom. Zanzibar’s government websites were unreachable when this page was written, and what circulates otherwise is excursion copy. The conservation tours guide sets out why asking who receives a conservation fee and who audits it is the useful question at sites like this.
The forest roosts at Ngezi, in the far north-west, hold hundreds rather than thousands and are worth walking for the forest as much as the bats. The forest walks guide covers both.
Common questions about Kidike
How many flying foxes are at Kidike?
1,491 in the 2024 survey, down from between 3,394 and 4,978 in 2008. Figures in the tens of thousands refer to the whole island, not to this roost.
Is the Pemba flying fox in decline?
No. The island-wide population grew from around 5,000 in 1995 to over 25,000 in 2024. What has changed is where the bats live: nearly three-quarters of them now roost in towns rather than in forest and farmland.
Why did they move into towns?
The survey attributes it to disturbance, principally hunting by children, which is least in urban centres. Chake Chake and Wete between them now hold well over half the island’s bats.
Where is the best place to see them?
On the numbers, the town colonies at Chake Chake and Wete. As an organised visit, Kidike, with the caveat that it holds a fraction of what it did. Ngezi in the north-west holds hundreds and is a better forest walk.