Le Grande Comoros

We arrived and were carted onto a minibus, almost like our SA taxis, with half our luggage strapped to the roof. About eight of us were squashed into the back of this taxi and we set out on our drive to our hotel. The drive from the airport to the hotel was 20km away but due to the giant pothole, cars driving like mad and people walking on the side of the road, it took us about an hour. We were very happy to get to our destination in one piece. Along the way, we got a glimpse of the island, with tropical vegetation meeting black larva and white beaches, with the poorest people I have ever seen. Gugs is like Monaco compared to some parts of Moroni. There were so many hecticly contrasting scenes.

When we arrived at our hotel, we found out that we had all been given our own rooms. The rooms were really great and they had aircon, which is such a relief in the hot and humid weather. We had supper at the restaurant which took the form of a large open-air patio with wrought iron tables and chairs and beautiful candles. The smell of ylang ylang permeated through the air as we indulged in the local cuisine. I was adventurous and tried the only non-fishy local dish which consisted of lamb liver, kidneys etc. The Kilimanjaro beer went down like a dream.

Aahh, Moroni.  We were bushed after our long journey, so we went on a little walkabout around the hotel and discovered the swimming area in the dark but couldn’t see much.

In the morning, we awoke early to make the most of our time on the island. Our group leader told us that we had to be packed and ready to board the ship by 11. So we missioned to the swimming area at the crack of dawn (no, not that crack and there was no-one called dawn). The water temperature was approximately 27degrees, Durban eat your heart out!  The swimming area consisted of a slipway that was surrounded by black lava rocks. The ocean was a clear blue shimmering delight (cheesy but true). Some of us snorkeled and saw some fishies. We eventually left the area after our stomachs protested and we made our way to breakfast at the restaurant.

On our way to breakfast we met Joseph, a budding entrepreneur. He told us that the Grand Comoros supplies about 90% of the world’s ylang ylang essential oil, which is used as a base for all perfume. And he just happened to be a ylang ylang farmer. So he convinced us that we should get some along with some vanilla pods. He then told us about his side business, think this was his fourth business, of tour operating. What a guy and what a salesman!!! He gave us the low down about all the options and costs and we were keen to go on an island tour but we had to board the ship in a couple of hours. So we hatched a plan with him to take us into town and see the market. The five of us squashed into his Peugeot and off we went.

The market place consisted of many stalls that were stocked with all sorts of stuff, some that were about four metres high with hanging shirts. We went to the centre of the market place which had the meat and fish sections. There were carcasses hanging around in the open with flies everywhere and the smell… The fish were also just lying in water and some just in buckets with flies everywhere. I had a flashback to the meat that I had eaten the previous night and had a bit of a panic attack and felt slightly ill. Anyway, so the ichthy guy bought some red fish, which he believed was a new species.

We then moved on to the stalls with the baskets and colourful wraps, and we got a bit carried away. Six baskets, three wraps later, we had to leave as our time was up. We tried to buy some spices from some merchants but language and the constant chirping at us made us change our mind. Not sure what the chirping was all about but we thought that it was because we were wearing shorts and little tops in the midst of conservative women, who were covered except for the faces…

We hopped into the car again and then off we went to collect our bags and we went straight to the harbour. We were stopped at the harbour gate and after a little karakara (Comorian word for bribe) we were let in. We offloaded everything and waited for the little boat to arrive to take us through to the research vessel. The sun beat down on us and we felt like Patrick and Sponge Bob when they were in the bait and curio shop (in the movie) under the lamp. After loosing about 5 litres of water in sweat, we were picked up and boarded the Dr Fridtjof Nansen Research Vessel. Aaahh, the ship had aircon and water! Yay!!  And ofcourse, we finally made it onto the ship!!!

That’s all folks…well, for now.

More to follow soonish.

Liefies en drukkies!