Comoros Travel Guide

Comoros OVERVIEW

Holiday on Comoros is a test of how much you are ready to give up on or suffer in return for a tiny bit of paradise on Earth. Traveling in a country where few give a monkey about infrastructure will probably put you through a hard time, and the devoutly Islamic tradition will inevitably ask you for sacrifices in terms of drinking and clothing. Some find it unbearable. Those who are able to keep a tight rein on their homely habits will, at the end of the day, thank their Lord for a mother-lode of patience and self-discipline he endowed them with. For Comoros are like the garden of Eden, except that fig leaf outfits are not welcome.

Where else can you swim with sea turtles, face the world's largest active volcano, and guiltlessly let your days pass where the white ribbons of powder sand beaches melt seamlessly with the tranquil body of azure blue and no high-fly developer has yet laid his grubby hands. Ngazidja (Grande Comore) is both blessed and cursed with Mt Karthala, whose eruptions have regularly flattened southern villages, but whose majestic steam-gushing cone provides for such captivating a backdrop for the Arabian romance of capital Moroni that there's no end to gazing. Mwali (Mohéli) is an oasis of untamed beauty, authenticity, and hospitality. The locals revel in lengthy chats with visitors and more than happily share the miracles of nature with anyone who's able to appreciate it. Nzwani (Anjouan) happens to be called the pearl of the Indian Ocean. With mosques dotting the area, verdant hillsides, rivers tumbling to the sea, the volcanic peak of Mount Ntingi towering over tropical mahoganies and wild orchids, the island is all that it's cracked up to be. Finally, Mahoré (Mayotte), which is a de facto dependency of France, will surely appeal to your senses, with pristine vistas and the smell of cinnamon floating in the air, but definitely not to your wallet.

Clad with a patchwork of fabrics brought by Persian sultans, Arab merchants, African slaves, and Portuguese corsairs, sewn with Swahili and Muslim threads, the Comoros rise from the seabed of the Indian Ocean like the wide-winged fruit bats from the steep-sided valleys in the mountainous forests of Nzwani - visitor-friendly and adorable, but still wild and independent.