I had not heard too much about the Comoros Islands and due to Kenya Airways changing all the flights after I’d booked them, I was getting way less time there than intended. Instead I left Mauritius, flew to Kenya, then Ethiopia, then Tanzania and finally landed in Comoros. (5 countries in 24 hours, 4 flights, barely any sleep and by this time fairly sweaty and smelly!). I did feel bad for my guide, Omar, who was picking me up from the airport to start my day tour! Due to the above extreme route, I would only get a chance to explore Grand Comore and not the other islands I’d heard were more beautiful and had originally intended to visit. Nevertheless I was going to maximise my time here and see and learn as much as possible.
Grand Comore's capital is Moroni and the island is home to around 500,000 people (estimated 800,000 people across the three islands) - it has the rugged beauty of an island nation but a very poor one. According to my guide, the first to inhabit Comoros were Africans in the 4th Century, then in the 8th Century sailors from Asia came, followed by the Omani's and Persians in the 11th Century, then much later around the 15th/16th Century by the Portuguese and then the French and the Brits fought over the various islands of the Comores. The French eventually colonised Comoros by backing the tribe that lived in the South of the island, whilst the British backed the Northern tribe. Given this is a former French colony, you know the outcome of this battle.
We wandered though the Moroni market, a bustling street for stalls of various products. The women lining up to sell their goods, terrified of photography, despite my guide telling me to carry on taking pictures and ignore the angry screams (even when the camera was pointed in the opposite direction).
The market led into the medina and the narrow streets felt cool compared with the main roads of Moroni. The medina provided shade and wind tunnels - deliberately built for that effect.
Our first historical stop was the palace of the Sultan of the North. His palace was beautifully situated on the shore with amazing views from every room.
The cliffs to the right of the palace had a dark history though. The tale goes, that when invaders came to Comoros, the Sultan, Karibonque (not sure if I've spelt that right!) was fighting to protect the fortress atop the cliffs where the people of Comoros were hiding and seeking protection. However, after he killed 34 pirates, he was killed himself. They remaining fighters eventually fell and the women that remained in the fotress (around 150) jumped off the cliffs to commit suicide rather than to become slaves to the victors. A little morbid for such a beautiful spot.
The palace is now crumbling and the graves by the entrance are for the sultans son and wife. Next to the palace was the Friday Mosque in the village of Iconi. This was next to a huge expanse with steps going down into it. It looked like a football pitch and it was, but with a twist! When the tide was out, it was a football pitch. When the tide came in, it was a swimming pool. Very random, but an excellent use of space!
Next to the there is also a monument from the Massacre of March 18th 1978 where 11 men from the village were massacred. Clearly this village has a lot of dark history!
From here we moved onto the Witchcraft Lake. This is where the witch doctors often bless the water that can be used to the advantage of the one seeking help from the witch doctor. For example, if you wanted a girl to like you (a male guide was explaining this to me) you could go to the witch doctor and sacrifice what was requested of you - usually goats and the water would be blessed/cursed/ become magic and with a few drops of this water the girl could fall madly in love with you. (Is it wrong to feel sorry for the girl?!).
Comoros is indeed a fascinating country, from both a cultural and religious point of view. The predominant religion is Islam, so conservative dress is generally required (abayas and hijab for the women), although in reality it is a fairly relaxed place. I wasn’t required to wear a headscarf during my time on the island. However, where there is significant difference from other Muslim nations that I have observed, is that Comoros is a matriarchal state. The women own the land and the property and should a married couple get divorced, the man is thrown out of the family home and has to go back to his family. A man has to work very hard to attract a woman and indeed to keep her. Although it is permitted for a man to have more than one wife - up to four, however the maximum is generally two, and the norm is only one. How to earn enough for more than one wife is out of the reach of many men on the Comoros Islands. A traditional wedding of the eldest daughter from nobility usually lasts 9 days, and the husband has to give three cows to the father of the bride. For any further daughters, a wedding lasting only a day and requiring only one goat is acceptable.
However, it’s expensive for a father to have daughters. On the day she is born, he must visit the witch doctor who will tell him the day and time he is to lay the cornerstone of the property he has to build and pay for for each daughter on the land provided by the mother. These houses are then build over twenty odd years, so it’s ready for when the daughter marries, so you can see why the father now gets the cows or goats when a man is to live in the house he’s built!!! The sons have to earn enough to purchase the cows or the goat that they wish to present to the father of their future wife. It kinda sucks to be a guy in Comoros!!! (Makes a change from all the other countries where it's an easier life for men than women!)
We travelled up into the hills to a liang liang plantation. Liang liang flowers are used for the base of Chanel No. 5 and indeed the sweet smelling odour from the flowers filled the air even before anything has been done to convert it to expensive perfume!
By this point the sun was sinking in the sky due to my late arrival and the clouds were rolling in for what hopefully would be a beautiful sunset. We headed to my waterfront hotel which was quite some way away and I took in the landscape: the jungle like island, the half finished empty houses and the car shells stripped of the interiors (to be put to alternative uses) after road traffic accidents - not the typical scenery you would put together, but strangely beautiful at the same time.
The hotel was beautifully situated on the cliff top with amazing sea views. The reception staff were not as efficient as expected and check in took a while, a vague point in the direction of the room resulted in asking twice more before successfully finding my bed for the night. Dinner was much the same. I was seated quickly and an attempt was made to hard sell me the most expensive item on the menu, “madam, we have picked out the seafood platter for you tonight, it’s fantastic!”. “No thanks, I’m just looking for a snack please” I replied. 25 mins later no one had come to take my order so I slipped away and went to bed. After my epic trip to this island, I was greatly in need of some zzz’s.
The next morning I woke, showered and packed quickly. Pick up was 730 as my flight had been changed (again) to mid afternoon. I had to get a full day in before being at the airport at 2.30pm.
First stop was the town of Itsandra, to the palace of the Sultan of the South - Msa Fumu, who led the Igna Famba tribe on the island. This palace was much higher up, offering better views of the surrounding areas and of the sea. The sultan of the South had more time to prepare in case of attack that the Sultan of the North. His palace had similar sized rooms but had two watch towers higher than the palace for better viewing. Both palaces were full of overgrown vegetation and were crumbling, but there didn't seem to be any intention to restore the palaces, nor were any squatters making their home there.
After the palace we went to what was called the "souvenir shop" I took a grand total of zero money with me as I was doubtful as to what would possibly be.a souvenir from a scarcely visited country and ended was rewarded with a meat and fish market, a clothes stall and mobile phone ship! Clearly all my experience travelling in Africa has stood me in good stead for these situations! We wandered around soaking p the vibe, before departing empty handed and moving on.
The next stop was the National Museum in Moroni. I'm not generally a massive fan of African museums (except the one in Cairo, which I think is amazing!) but this one was broken up on to four sections. The first section was volcanology, which I do find quite interesting and always makes me think of the night I spent at the crater of Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo, watching it erupt. It was explaining how the Comoros Islands were formed. Next was some of the history around the various different settlers on Comoros and how they had the influences of not only Africa and Europe, but the mMiddle East and Asia as well. I must admit, I had never really considered the Indian Ocean islands off Southern Africa to be particularly close to Asia given how long it takes to fly from Asia to Africa, but geographically they are not worlds apart. I saw this manifested more in Madagascar, where the people did indeed have features closer linked to Asia than Africa, including straighter hair. After that was the nature section. Photos of whale sharks and dugonogs (which I am still yet to see!) along with lemurs (which the locals are apparently quite scared off) and various bird species. I showed them my photos from Madagascar with the lemurs climbing over my shoulders and head and they physically shivered in fear, just at the photos. Finally was the section on traditional living and the items they would make to use at home. I was surprised when my guide told me that most people on the island still don't have electricity in their homes. I was told, they blamed the French for their current state of poverty - they wished the British had colonised them (as Mauritius, was a far more prosperous island). I found this strange as most countries I've been to where the British colonised or got involved, do not consider the Brits favourably, yet I'm always happy to be corrected!!
We drove to one of the highest points of the island to see the views from Diboini..
On the way back down we crossed the lava flow from the latest volcanic eruption (Karthala Volcano) that took out the road and now provides a source of material for construction (buildings here are made of coral and lava rock!!
Back on the road, it was time to get back to nature and the beach - Place de Chomoni! We stopped first at a beach camp, which would have been such a beautiful space to stay overnight with a campfire, but sadly on this trip, that wasn't going to be possible. The beach was a small cove, with beautiful white sand against the volcanic rock. The sea was blue, with the white crest of the waves at regular intervals heading into the beach, and the sun was warm and inviting. I wished I'd put my bikini on this morning and could take a quick dip.
Our lunch stop was just an beautiful. Bouni beach, was one of the most beautiful beaches I had ever seen, with white sand, palm trees, and it was totally empty. My guide and I were the only ones on the beach! How is this even possible?!
We headed to Dragon Rock. This was quite a spectacular place as it was a series of what looked like volcanic rocks, in the shape of a dragons tale, however some of the rocks had other stories linked to them. We started the hike up the hill along a flat path, pushing the foliage out of our way. there was movement in the bushes ahead, and I must admit my heart started to race. The guide went first - I was planning to just move past the suspicious spot as quickly as possible, but he went to investigate. A few seconds later he was rolling on the ground laughing, It was a cow and to make it funnier, the cow was tied up! clearly not something or someone, coming o get us!!! haha!
The two rocks to the far right of the picture above, are called the kissing rocks. Apparently, these rocks were formed when a father cursed his daughter and her boyfriend after he'd betrothed her to another man. The father went to a witch doctor and asked them to put a spell not he lovers if they ever met again. Of course, young love, they did and when they kissed, they were turned to stone. :(
The rock formations were incredibly beautiful and offered amazing views of the bay, there was only one stop left before heading to the airport, but these views I would remember - so nice to have beautiful blue sky as well! Not so common on islands, as I've learned on my travels!
Lastly, was the salt lake. The legend here was that a god had come to Earth as this particular village was known to be incredibly selfish. The god in human form, asked one of the villagers for water and food, but they refused to provide it to him. A kindly villager eventually gave him food and water and he sent her out of the village on an errand. While she was away, the god flooded the village and the Salt Lake was formed. The kindle lady was the only survivor and in its place this beautiful lake replaced the selfish village.
Off to the airport now to start the journey back to Muscat... However, I first have to address the car crashes mentioned in the title. Everywhere one looked there were stripped down cars on the side of the road, hundreds across the island. But what's the secret? It was a muslim country and I hadn't found alcohol (despite asking!) so it wasn't drunk drivers.. the truth - they are just terrible drivers!!
Goodbye Comoros - until we meet again to explore some of the other islands! Thanks for the beautiful weather and the stories you have provided!!
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