Comoros

Moroni — the capital of the Comoros (an archipelago of four main islands in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and Mozambique, three islands under the Union of Comoros, the fourth — Mayotte — under French administration, population 870,000 — one of the poorest countries in the world by GDP, among the most politically unstable with 20+ coups or coup attempts since independence in 1975) with the medina (the oldest continuously inhabited urban quarter in the Indian Ocean, with Arab-influenced mosques, carved wooden doors and the Friday Mosque of 1427 — the finest Islamic architecture in the Indian Ocean islands).

💡 The Comoros has experienced more than 20 coups or attempted coups since independence in 1975 — the highest rate of any country in the world — making it the most politically unstable small island nation in the Indian Ocean. The most recent coup attempt (2019) was repelled by government forces; the current president Azali Assoumani (in power since 2019) won a controversial referendum extending presidential terms. Despite this, day-to-day life in the islands is peaceful and safe for tourists.

Mount Karthala (2,361m — one of the most active volcanoes in the world, with major eruptions in 2005, 2007 and 2012, covering large areas of the island in lava and ash — the summit caldera is one of the largest active calderas in the Indian Ocean, accessible by a 6–8 hour hike from the lower slopes, with the summit ridge offering views of the Mozambique Channel on a clear day) and the ancient Shirazi settlements of the north coast.

💡 Mount Karthala (the shield volcano forming the southern two-thirds of Grande Comore — one of the world’s most voluminous volcanoes by caldera size, with a summit caldera 3km wide and 1km deep — has erupted over 20 times in the last 200 years. The 2005 eruption filled the caldera with lava and the ash falls disrupted agriculture across the island for months. The Comorian people have lived alongside the volcano for 1,000+ years, farming the fertile volcanic soils on its lower slopes.

Anjouan (Nzwani — the most agricultural of the three Comorian islands, the primary source of ylang-ylang, cloves, vanilla and other essential oils that make the Comoros the “Perfume Islands” of the Indian Ocean — a guided walk through the ylang-ylang plantations with distillation demonstration, the historic city of Mutsamudu (the best-preserved Arab-influenced medina in the Indian Ocean islands) and the waterfalls of the interior mountains) accessible by domestic flight or boat.

💡 Comorian ylang-ylang (Cananga odorata — the intensely fragrant flower distilled into the essential oil used in Chanel No.5 and most major French perfumes — the Comoros produces approximately 50% of the world’s ylang-ylang oil, grown on the fertile volcanic slopes of Anjouan and Grande Comore). The distinctive sweet, heavy fragrance of ylang-ylang drying in the evening air is the defining sensory experience of Anjouan.

Mohéli (Mwali — the smallest and least-developed of the three Comorian islands, with the Mohéli Marine Park — the most important sea turtle nesting site in the western Indian Ocean, with the largest green turtle nesting aggregation in the Indian Ocean north of Madagascar, thousands of hawksbill and green turtles nesting on the beaches of the southern coast October–March, accessible by pirogue from Fomboni) and the whale shark encounters October–December.

💡 The Mohéli Marine Park (established 2001 — the first marine park in the Comoros, created by the coastal village communities of Mohéli to protect the sea turtle nesting beaches after the population of green turtles fell critically in the 1980s–1990s from egg collection and nest disturbance) has seen a significant recovery in turtle nesting numbers since establishment: the park now documents 5,000–10,000 green turtle nests per season, the most important recovery in the western Indian Ocean.

An overnight on Mohéli to watch green turtle nesting (October to March — the female turtles haul out at night on the southern beaches of Mohéli, digging nests in the sand by torchlight — the sheer number of turtles simultaneously on the beach is among the most spectacular wildlife experiences in the Indian Ocean, comparable to the great turtle aggregations of Oman and Malaysia) with a guided night walk with the community rangers of the Mohéli Marine Park.

💡 Green turtle nesting at Mohéli (Chelonia mydas — the turtles return to the same beach where they hatched, guided by the Earth’s magnetic field, after 25–30 years at sea — lay 100–120 eggs per nest and may nest 5–7 times per season at 2-week intervals. A single female might lay 600 eggs in a season; the hatching success on the protected beaches of Mohéli exceeds 80%, compared to 40–60% on unprotected beaches.

The coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae — the “living fossil” fish, unchanged for 65 million years, first discovered alive in Comorian waters in 1938, previously known only from 65-million-year-old fossils — the most zoologically significant fish discovery of the 20th century, found at 150–400m depth in the volcanic canyon walls around the Comoros, still present and regularly encountered by fishermen and deep-water cameras) exhibits at the Moroni coelacanth museum.

💡 The coelacanth discovery (1938 — a South African museum curator, Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, identified a coelacanth landed by a Cape Town fishing trawler as a species known only from 65-million-year-old fossils, immediately contacting ichthyologist J.L.B. Smith — and subsequent identification of the Comoros as the primary habitat in 1952, when a living specimen was caught by a Comorian fisherman) is the greatest zoological discovery of the modern era.

A final morning in Moroni’s medina: the traditional Arab dhow harbour (where hand-built wooden dhows are still constructed and repaired), the covered market with cloves, vanilla, cinnamon and ylang-ylang, the craftsmen making the characteristic Comorian carved wooden doors and the traditional kofia embroidered caps — before flying from Moroni (HAH) or Prince Said Ibrahim Airport.

💡 Comorian cuisine (a distinctive blend of East African, Arab and South Asian culinary traditions — mkatra foutra (fried rice-flour bread), langouste grilled with vanilla and coconut, pilao rice with cardamom and dried fish, fresh coconut milk with every dish — is among the most distinctive fusion cuisines in the Indian Ocean, largely unknown outside the islands and representing 1,000 years of maritime trade route food exchange.