Due to having to change my flight from Precision Air to Ethiopian Airlines, I arrived a bit later (13:50) than my original plan, and I am leaving onward to Mayotte tomorrow noon, so I have less than 24 hours in Comoros (albeit even my original plan was only something like 27 hours). In planning I struggled to find affordable accommodation and options to see anything I wanted to. For example, after a lot of work I did find someone who agreed to rent me a car at the airport for €50, but that fell through. I got a quote from Comoros's main tour operator, Adores Comoros, for airport pickup and a half day tour of the north of Grande Comore island, but that came to what felt exorbitant at €190. In the end, I booked a room at a guesthouse in Moroni (the capital) for €50 euro, and organized an airport transfer through them for €20. My driver, Ahmed, was not a total gem, but he did his best to assertively get me through passport control which was complete chaos. The Moroni airport generally was a disaster and without air conditioning and full of people it was horribly hot.
As we were driving into Moroni itself from the airport Ahmed proposed take me on a small tour. Since I still had not figured out how I was going to efficiently spend my time, this seemed worth pursuing. Instead of the original €20 for the airport transfer today, we negotiated (in a mixture of French and English) €75 euro for the airport transfer today, airport transfer tomorrow, and a tour. Seventy-five euro is a lot of money, still, but I was losing daylight and decided if I was going to make the most of my visit this was the way to go. I accepted. In the end, I am happy I did.
Ahmed dropped me at the guesthouse to check in while he picked up his granddaughter from school, and asked me to meet him down at the corner around 16:30. So, I dropped of my bag, washed up a bit and headed down the street.
More or less on time Ahmed picked me up and our first stop was a few minutes into town where the granddaughter had to be dropped off.
As I sat in the vehicle waiting these ladies walked by. Since I zoomed in from quite a distance the photo is hopelessly blurry . . .
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. . . but this is what I was seeing--"msindzano (or msindanu), a yellow, fragrant paste made by grinding sandalwood." I ended up seeing it very often and it is quite distinctive. Here is a better photo I found online.
Once Ahmed's granddaughter was taken care of we drove on through Moroni and south towards Iconi. Moroni and Iconi are only about four kilometres apart, but traffic was bad and it took us about forty minutes to get there. Anyway, even the drive was of interest to me.
It was drizzling a little once we reached Iconi, but very beautiful nonetheless.
In fact, arguably this rocky coastline would be among the most idyllic in the world.
EXCEPT, pan just slightly to the left and you see this tragic human-made disaster.
Even in just my first couple of hours on the island I had already seen many signs that waste management is a serious challenge in Comoros, but nothing as obviously horrible as this. Even as I stood nearby I watched a small truck pull up and more garbage bags added to pile. It was really quite heartbreaking to see.
Anyway, Ahmed dropped me off here to explore for a few minutes on my own. Across the road from the garbage are the ruins of this sultan's palace, which you can clamber around on to your heart's content.
Evidently this plaque lists the sultans who used the palace over the centuries.
Next door to the palatial ruins is a memorial. Gemini told me this about the event the monument memorializes: "The Iconi massacre occurred on March 18, 1978, when President Ali Soilih's revolutionary guards opened fire on demonstrating fishers protesting forced state sales of their catch."
Behind the memorial is the Grande Mosquée d'Iconi.
From this spot we drove further south through the town, past colourful fishing boats . . .
. . . to Lac Nkwabé, which is more the size of a pond then a lake, I think, but it is quite a lovely spot because it is surrounded by mangrove trees.
Our final stop of the tour was in the middle of Moroni, across from what is Comoros's iconic landmark, if it has one, the Friday mosque. Ahmed let me out here to walk on my own again.
With the sun setting and the fishing boats all anchored in the harbour it was a very picturesque time to be here.
After spending some time around the harbour, I asked Ahmed if he minded waiting another ten minutes and he said "no problem," so I walked up into the medina to explore some more.
I did a quick loop through residential alleys . . .
. . . a market (they seem to really like these super colourful umbrellas in Comoros, which definitely makes the street lively!) . . .
. . . and then back down towards the seaside . . .
. . . past children playing football barefoot in the square . . .
. . . until I rejoined Ahmed in his car by the mosque.
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As we drove back towards my guesthouse, we passed this sign which caught my eye--"Mayotte est Comorienne et le restera a jamais."
In terms of geography I do not think anyone disputes this statement (it is clear that the Comoros archipelago is made up of four main islands, one of which is Mayotte), but of course the sign is making a political point that Mayotte should be part of the Union of the Comoros nation-state and no longer part of France. The United Nations officially agrees with this, but France and the majority of those living in Mayotte feel differently. As things currently stand, it is relatively difficult for citizens of Comoros to visit Mayotte legally (but apparently an enormous percentage--perhaps 50%!--of Mayotte's population are nonetheless citizens of Comoros who have gone to work in Mayotte, in many cases illegally); and yet, as a Canadian tourist I will easily fly there tomorrow visa-free. This simple sign made me reflect on this somewhat surreal reality...
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