Noumachoua, Mohéli

The Comoros are one of the least visited countries in the world. The name of these islands means ‘islands of the moon’. Ancient Arab travellers associated the islands with the moon, but in my memories, they are bound to the whitest empty beaches, clear waters and the best snorkelling experience I have ever had. If you have never heard of the Comoros, it is because only a few (probably lost) tourists visit this place every year. Though it is a very peaceful and beautiful country, tourism and the infrastructure for foreign tourists have not been developed.

Noumachoua, Mohéli

We came to the Comoros after our trip to Madagascar and Mauritius. I think that the Comoros in some way are comparable to Mauritius – both are exotic tropical countries in the middle of the Indian Ocean. But, while certainly there are some similarities, the differences are enormous. If Mauritius is entirely touristic and commercial, offering a vast variety of hotels, touristic sightseeing points and entertainment, Comoros was like its virgin sister.

It was challenging to find hotels and transport in the Comoros. There was a language barrier (Tip! English is almost useless there, learn some French). But on the other hand, it is so much more exciting, great for adventure and wholly original. It offers different cultural experiences and untouched fantastic nature. The waters are not disturbed by anybody and you can see coral, turtles and colourful fishes as in the brightest and clearest aquariums.

The capital of Mayotte on a tiny round island, connected via a bridge to the main island.

There are four islands – independent Grande Comore, Mohéli and Anjouan as one country, and Mayotte which politically remains separate and still belongs to France.

Medina of Moroni, the capital of Comoros on Gran Comore island

Mohéli Island. Marine National Park.

Mohéli is the smallest and least populated island of the group. It is famous for hosting the biggest marine national park in the Indian Ocean. We were very keen to see the nesting marine turtles.

When we came to our final and most remote destination Moheli Laka Lodge hotel on Moheli island, it felt like a VIP life with a private beach and underwater shows just for us. We were pampered by a luxurious experience in a beautiful bungalow with a view to the beach and sunsets from the bed, white sand beaches, clear seas, colourful corals only 100 metres from the house, and delicious seafood. It was the all-inclusive type of offer because there are no any eating places in local villages. Sincerely I could not think of a more ideal place for a romantic couple honeymoon.

Moheli Laka Lodge hotel

An American family ran the hotel. While they had an excellent local cook who prepared fantastic French-style fresh seafood and fish dishes for us every day, they told us that local people value only fish and not seafood. They even struggled to encourage the locals to find lobsters for hotel guests, as the locals probably believed we were too sophisticated to eat what they saw as such low-level food. Once we saw an octopus for sale on the road when driving around the island, and the whole creature was only 2 USD, which also at Comoro local prices is really nothing.

It is not a rich country, but it is quite expensive to tour. Due to lack of competition and tourists, there are just a few hotels, and those on the seaside cost a lot. The most precious thing that you get there is privacy and the experience of untouched nature.

You might find useful this list of all hotels present in Comoros.

Nesting marine turtles

Adriano supports a marine turtle mother “giving birth.”

Moheli Laka Lodge hotel can help to organise various tours of the island – rent a boat for snorkelling, take you further towards the open ocean for snorkelling or diving with some big fishes, organise a trip to see monkeys, bats, nesting turtles, and many more.

We departed at 5 pm for Itsamia beach to watch nesting turtles. We were forbidden to talk, use phones or any other light source. We hid away from the beach and silently waited until midnight hoping to see at least one big marine turtle coming in from the ocean to nest on the beach.

At some point, standing for the third hour in the dark with an even darker forest behind us, I was about to lose hope that we’d see anything that night. Finally, our guide spotted a shadow slowly moving from the ocean towards the beach. We waited another hour. Our guide told us that we could approach the turtle only after she had finished digging the hole and started to lay eggs. At that stage, you can dance around her (just kidding, don’t do it!), nothing can frighten or stop her from depositing eggs once she starts. We watched the turtle, saw all her eggs and even how carefully she hid all of them in the sand. What looks like a hole in the sand in the picture below, in 20 minutes became a little hill. Turtles are slow, but these are massive and powerful to move the sand with their large flippers. Each time, one turtle can deposit up to 500 eggs.

Itsamia, Mohéli

Unfortunately, many baby turtles do not ever reach the ocean. That first trip from the nest to the water is very challenging for them. The little ones who try to cross in the darkness with fewer predators around, stand more chance.

It was somewhat ridiculous that we were so anxious and careful before seeing the first turtle, but coming back in the light of the moon and stars, we almost stepped on them. Turtles were everywhere. Our guide did not take care anymore to hide or be silent, and the turtles did not seem to notice us at all. There was only one turtle which immediately stopped digging her hole after seeing us and headed back to the ocean. We were ashamed of spoiling her plans, but as soon as we walked away, she came back and went on digging in the same spot for her future babies.

Some turtles were still coming in from the ocean, others already returning to the sea, and yet more were still in “transit status” depositing their eggs. We found a few turtles almost in front of the houses of the village where we had left the car.

A night tour to see these turtles is a magnificent experience. There is no specific season for it.

Tip! Seen that this tour takes half of the night, it would be convenient to stay over in the bungalows next to Itsamia beach.

Snorkelling at Mohéli

Noumachoua, Mohéli

Unfortunately, I cannot show pictures of how magnificent it was underwater. But take my word for it – I have never seen such a colourful “TV show” and it did not require waiting for any particular day or calm water. Any time and any day, the water was perfectly transparent, and the coral and fishes were everywhere. The only challenge we faced was tides, which were very strong. While we snorkelled one afternoon, the water receded so quickly that we could not swim back above the coral and had to walk through it in very shallow waters.

In the photo below, we have taken a boat to get further away from the island to snorkel with big fishes and turtles. It is not very clear in the photo, but the black spot in front of the boat was a manta ray. Right after taking this picture we dived and snorkelled with these nice animals, which I later found out belong to the (kind part of) the shark family.

Noumachoua, Mohéli

Manta ray. Photo by Julia Wimmerlin 

Just behind our hotel, there was a village. People were very excited to see foreigners, anyone speaking a little bit of English wanted to have a chat. I remember us talking to one stranger on the street; after a few minutes of chatting, he asked, “Can I be your friend?” It was so unusual, that I stupidly responded, “Like on Facebook?” He seriously responded, “No, in real life”.

The Comoros are a traditional Muslim country. But local people told me that women in their society have a lot of power. It is the women who own family houses and take many financial and other family decisions. On the streets, I always saw a lot of women walking alone; it was very different from some Pakistani cities, where sometimes I felt like the only female among hundreds of people. For tourists, it is not mandatory to cover hair or dress in a particular way.

It was interesting to see this local village celebrating a wedding over several days. Then they had a tradition of watching TV altogether in the central square. There were even hand-written posts announcing at what time a particular football match would be broadcast.

Noumachoua, Mohéli

Islands smelling like ginger cookies

The primary export product of the Comoros is cloves – the spice used for ginger cookies (in Italian “chiodi di garofano”, in Lithuanian “gvazdikėliai”). When we visited the islands, it was the season of drying cloves in the sun. Every roof, beach, sideway, everything was covered and perfumed by cloves. In the photo below, you can see already dry and, therefore, brown cloves still in the sun.

Fresh cloves are like little pink flowers

How to get to Mohéli – Transport

First, you would land in Grande Comore, where the capital and an international airport are found. The best way to get to and from Mohéli is to take a local flight operated by the local company and small planes. The challenge is that you cannot get them online in advance, nor be sure about the time and date of departure. Here is one more way how Moheli Laka Lodge hotel can help you to arrange your trip. You can ask this hotel to book a ticket for you in advance.

In the photo hereunder, I am at AB Aviation airline office in Fomboni on Moheli island. The handwritten piece of paper in my hand is actually a 120 EUR airline ticket for two people. In the photo you can also see contacts of airline company, check if there is any update and if you can book tickets online. There is one more Inter Iles Air local airline company operating the same flights.

At Fomboni airport. Ready to board with my handwritten ticket

It is hard to call this place an airport but in the end we arrived back on Grande Comore Island safe and sound. It was interesting to mingle with local people while we waited for our flight. One little girl was very curious about my white skin. Almost like a doctor, she carefully touched my hand, and looked in my eyes to see how I felt. Then touched again, squeezed a bit, analysed skin reaction to the touch and inspected the colour of both sides of my hand. Naturally, I was the first white person she had ever seen.

Though I did not know her language, she somehow explained to me that in the corners of their scarfs women put a penny and secure it with a knot. She was hungry so she untied the knot and bought a snack with the coin.

Refugee experience, the scariest adventure ever

We have reached Moheli from Grande Comore by a public boat transport. Back then we did not know that our hotel could help us to book a flight. It seemed too complicated to arrange the tickets before arriving to Comoros, and we decided to try something different, also allowing us to see the view of the islands from the sea.

Don’t do it! It was the most horrific hour of my life.

The local guy with a knife, but real “killers” are behind him.

What sounded like a good idea at the beginning turned into the worst nightmare. These are the boats, which are used to cross over 40 km of open ocean.

Chindini, Grande Comore

I like the difference between our faces in the photo below. The local guy looks like he is saying, “What on earth are you looking so smily about, a horror movie is just about to start”. Indeed, while we were close to the island, the sea looked very calm and no troubles were foreseen.

Chindini, Grande Comore – on our way to Mohéli in a tiny boat

Unluckily, to make things worse, we experienced a rough ocean as soon as we reached open waters. Today, I can sincerely say that I have a good idea of what refugees in the Mediterranean go through. Of course, there weren’t hundreds of us in the boat, just 10 people. However, the waves were much bigger than this tiny boat. On the other hand, it probably takes just one such occasion in a little boat in the ocean to get that feeling of absolute vulnerability in the face of the ocean’s enormous power.

Tips what to do in rough waters on a little boat

I screamed, and I cried, and the whole thing lasted for an hour and a half. To make it worse, I acted in the same manner as protecting myself from sea-sickness – got firmly attached to the boat and moved together with it. Because of the situation and speed nobody noticed my completely wrong behaviour. So if you ever experience anything similar – hold yourself with your hands, get up a little bit, don’t sit firmly on the hard wooden or plastic bench when the boat jumps and falls. In fact, I felt as though my backbone would be broken in little pieces. Don’t ever do it! If you get sea-sick, it is much less of a problem than a broken backbone.

Survivals

In the end, I survived and we all survived. However, I remember people telling that there were a lot of sharks under us and in general between the islands because of many fishes in the currents; and on the other hand a particular moment of thought that falling off the boat and being quickly eaten by sharks would have been less painful than never-ending torture staying in that boat.

Later people told us that occasionally they throw all the passengers’ bags into the water, suddenly realizing that they have too much weight on board while in the middle of the ocean.

Robinson Crusoe experience

Our adventure was not finished yet. We had a problem with the permissions needed to come to Mohéli. It is a bureaucratic thing – although we had a visa and it is the same country, foreigners need a permission to go from one island to the other by boat (it is not a problem when you take a domestic plane). Because of now very clear reasons we probably were the first foreigners to take the damn boats. There was no procedure how to get the permission at the port. More to this, communication between officers on both islands seemed not very cooperative. There was some political tension between the islands themselves.

Since we travelled illegally, we couldn’t land on the official port of Huani on Moheli island, and we were dropped on this desert beach. Well, technically we weren’t dropped ON the beach, but BEFORE the beach, straight into the water.

“Robinson” thrown into the water at some wild beach in a middle of nowhere

This friendly guy, whom we had met one hour before, helped us hiking up the road through the forest and then hitchhiking to Fomboni (the capital of Mohéli), on a minivan which wheel exploded just before our arrival.

Civilization reached, but adventures go on. In Fomboni, Mohéli

The world divided into French and English

Just before getting on the boat, we visited the local police department. People were very kind and very interested in our visit, however, they still could not help us with the permissions. The superintendent of the local police office carefully checked every page of our passports, reading every country we have a stamp from.

He was very curious to find out more about Italy. He wanted to know what language we spoke at home. We said that we spoke Italian. He was, like, “Ok, Italian, hmmm… but English or French?” We: “No, in Italy people speak Italian”. He: “Ok, but you are British or French? Francophones or Anglophones?” I did not understand at the beginning what the problem was, but it seems that here from colonial times the world is still divided between the English and French. Italy is somewhat problematic, neither here nor there.

The happy ending

After surviving the most adventurous day of my life, we landed into a peaceful hotel Auberge Les Abou with a sea view in front of the terrace.

At night in this overall very quiet hotel, we have found out that a lot of fruit bats were living there. It had to be some sort of the war in the bats worl of bats how much noise they were making in the night.

In the end, most important is not to take the local transport boats between the islands and you will find the Comoros to be a calm, no tourists, peaceful hidden paradise with unique nature experience.

Photo album