Badjanani Medina, the Old Friday Mosque and Volo Volo Market

The historic core of Moroni squeezes between hardened black lava flows from Mount Karthala and the clear blue swells of its small natural harbour. Unlike colonial capitals laid out on wide European grids, old Moroni grew organically as an Indian Ocean sultanate port linked by monsoon dhows to Zanzibar, Kilwa, Oman and Madagascar. You can walk its waterfront, medina, spice market and national museum in a single unhurried morning.

Ancienne Mosquée du Vendredi (the Old Friday Mosque) and the Dhow Port

Start on the rocky seawall beside the old port, where the Ancienne Mosquée du Vendredi (Old Friday Mosque, or Mosquée de Badjanani) stands right on a wave-washed basalt ledge. Originally founded in the 15th century by Shirazi-Arab settlers and rebuilt in 1921 with a whitewashed arcaded loggia and square minaret, it is the signature image of the Comoros. At high tide, Indian Ocean waves splash against the black volcanic boulders beneath its colonnade, while fishermen paddle narrow outrigger canoes (galawas) across the harbour inlet. Non-Muslim visitors are welcome to admire and photograph the mosque exterior from the waterfront promenade.

Inside the Badjanani Medina and Mtsangani Quarter

Step straight off the sunlit port square through a low stone archway and the temperature drops several degrees inside the Badjanani Medina. Divided historically into the royal quarters of Badjanani and Mtsangani, the medina is a tight pedestrian honeycomb of two-storey houses built from blocks of dark basalt stone and porous coral rag bound with lime mortar, with lanes barely wide enough for two people to pass.

Look closely at the entrances: many homes preserve heavy, hand-carved Swahili-style wooden doors studded with brass bosses and framed by carved floral and Quranic calligraphic motifs, alongside elevated stone benches (barazas) where elders sit to talk and play mrahaha. Hidden inside the labyrinth stand tiny coral-stone neighbourhood mosques and remnants of the defensive town wall.

Volo Volo Market and the Coelacanth at the National Museum

Walk ten minutes north of the medina to reach Volo Volo Market, Moroni's open-air bazaar, where women sell fragrant bundles of cured Bourbon vanilla beans, whole nutmegs wrapped in crimson mace, cloves, green cardamom and red-and-white shiromani textiles. Afterwards, head south toward Place de France to visit the National Museum of the Comoros (CNDRS). Its natural history room displays a famous preserved specimen of the Coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae, called Gombessa in Comorian), the deep-sea lobe-finned fish rediscovered in submarine volcanic caves off Grande Comore and Iconi. Pair your town walk with a hike on Mount Karthala.