Attractions & Natural Wonders · Comoros

The Comoros: Seven Attractions and Natural Wonders

An active volcano climbed on a steep trek, a stone medina fronting the Indian Ocean, a crater lake that changes colour, and a major nesting ground of the green turtle

By Worldlore Editorial · 30 September 2026

A broad dark volcanic mountain rising from tropical forest under a cloudy sky
Mount Karthala on Grande Comore, one of the most active volcanoes in the world and the archipelago's high point at 2,361 m. (alKomor.com / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0)

The "perfumed islands"

The Comoros are three small volcanic islands at the northern mouth of the Mozambique Channel, between Africa and Madagascar — Grande Comore (Ngazidja), Anjouan (Nzwani), and Mohéli (Mwali). (A fourth, Mayotte, voted to stay French.) They are among the least-visited countries on Earth, with little tourism infrastructure, a history of coups, and a strongly Islamic, Swahili- influenced culture. The draw is ylang-ylang plantations (the islands supply much of the world's ylang-ylang oil, a perfume base), the volcano, and largely empty coasts.

The seven below span all three islands, linked by small planes and unreliable ferries. It is a dry-season destination (May–October); the rainy season brings cyclones.

1. Mount Karthala

Black solidified lava flows spilling down a bare volcanic slope toward the coast
Lava flows on Karthala, one of the most active volcanoes in the world. (David Stanley / Wikimedia Commons)

Karthala takes up most of the southern half of Grande Comore. It is very active — it has erupted more than twenty times since the 19th century, most recently in 2005 and 2006, when thousands of people were evacuated — and its summit caldera measures about three by four kilometres. A steep but non-technical trek climbs from the plantations through cloud forest to the crater rim, usually as an overnight with a camp near the top.

It is the archipelago's premier adventure, and needs a local guide; conditions on the summit change fast.

2. Moroni's medina

Narrow lanes of pale coral-stone houses with carved doors in an old town by the sea
The medina of Moroni, a maze of Swahili coral-rag houses and small mosques on Grande Comore. (Radosław Botev / Wikimedia Commons)

The capital, Moroni (the name means "at the river"), has a compact old town of narrow lanes, coral-stone houses with carved wooden doors, and many mosques — a scaled-down cousin of Zanzibar's Stone Town or Lamu. The waterfront market and the old dhow harbour are the centre of life.

In July 2026 the medina was inscribed by UNESCO as part of the Medinas of the Historic Sultanates of the Comoros, the country's first World Heritage Site, together with Ntsoudjini, Itsandra, Ikoni, Mutsamudu and Domoni. It is small enough to wander in an afternoon, and the base for the rest of Grande Comore.

3. The Old Friday Mosque

A white mosque with a low minaret directly on a stone sea wall, waves below
The Ancienne Mosquée du Vendredi (Old Friday Mosque) on the Moroni seafront, originally built in 1427. (David Stanley / Wikimedia Commons)

Right on the Moroni sea wall stands the Ancienne Mosquée du Vendredi, the oldest mosque in the medina, originally built in 1427, with a minaret added in 1921. It is still in use.

Visitors can walk the exterior and the waterfront around it, which is the postcard view of the capital.

4. Lac Salé

A round, deep crater holding a green-blue lake, ringed by dark vegetated slopes near the sea
Lac Salé, a salt crater lake near the northern tip of Grande Comore that shifts colour with the light and season. (David Stanley / Wikimedia Commons)

Near Mitsamiouli at the north end of Grande Comore, Lac Salé fills an ancient volcanic crater a stone's throw from the ocean. Its water is salty, fed by the sea, and its green-to-turquoise colour changes with the weather.

It is an easy stop on a drive along the north coast.

5. Chomoni and the beaches

A small beach of pale sand between black lava outcrops, clear water and palms
Chomoni beach on the east coast of Grande Comore — white sand between fingers of black volcanic rock. (David Stanley / Wikimedia Commons)

Grande Comore's coast is mostly black lava, but a few pockets of pale coral sand break it up. Chomoni, on the east coast, is the best known — a cove of white sand framed by dark rock, with clear water for swimming and snorkelling. Itsandra, just north of the capital, was the seat of one of Grande Comore's old sultanates, and its medina is part of the 2026 UNESCO listing.

There are few resorts; most beach trips are day trips.

6. Anjouan and the Mutsamudu citadel

Thick stone fortress walls with bastions on a rise above a dense old town
The 18th-century citadel above Mutsamudu, the main town of Anjouan. (David Stanley / Wikimedia Commons)

Anjouan is a steep, mountainous island, terraced with ylang-ylang, clove, and vanilla. Its capital, Mutsamudu, has a historic Swahili medina, part of the 2026 UNESCO listing, watched over by a citadel built in 1786 with British help against Malagasy slave-raiders, with a view over the rooftops.

The island's interior has Lake Dzialandzé, its largest lake, and the Moya Forest, its largest remaining forest; the coast has black-sand beaches.

7. Mohéli and the marine park

A rocky black-sand shore with fishing pirogues and the town behind
A fishing beach at Moroni — dhows and outrigger canoes are still the main craft across the islands. (Radosław Botev / Wikimedia Commons)

Mohéli, the smallest and least developed island, has the country's first protected area: the Parc National de Mohéli, founded as a marine park in 2001 off the southern and eastern shores, with eight small islets, and since 2015 also covering about three-quarters of the island's land. It is one of the most important green turtle nesting sites in the western Indian Ocean — visitors can watch females come ashore at night in season — and its waters host dugongs and humpback whales, while seabirds nest on the islets.

Simple community-run bungalows on the beach are among the few organised tourism options in the country.

The Comoros are genuinely off the map: no chain hotels, patchy transport, and few other visitors. For travellers who want that, a week or ten days covers the volcano, the capital, and one of the outer islands.

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