Chomoni Beach, Lac Salé, Northern Coves and Comorian Food

While the waterfront right outside central Moroni consists of dramatic black lava ledges poured down by Mount Karthala in recent centuries, driving thirty to sixty minutes north along the coastal ring road brings you to the older volcanic massif of La Grille, where weathered coral reefs have created dazzling white-sand beaches, turquoise lagoons and dramatic volcanic craters.

Lac Salé, Trou du Prophète, Mitsamiouli and Chomoni Beach

Hire a private car and driver for a full-day circuit around the northern half of Grande Comore. Heading north from Moroni past the fortified 19th-century citadel walls and baobab trees of Ntsoudjini and Itsandra, the road reaches the relaxed coastal town of Mitsamiouli and the palm-lined white sands of Maloudja and Galawa. Just beyond the northern tip of the island, three remarkable coastal stops sit within a few kilometres of each other:

• Lac Salé (Niamawi Crater Lake): a steep-walled volcanic maar crater filled with deep green saltwater connected underground to the ocean. Local legend says a village once stood here before being flooded after refusing water to a holy traveller. A footpath circles the grassy rim high above the lake, with flocks of fruit bats roosting in the crater trees and black lava cliffs crashing into the Indian Ocean fifty metres away.
• Trou du Prophète and Dos du Dragon: a sheltered, emerald-green cove tucked behind a serrated ridge of volcanic rock shaped like the spiny back of a sleeping dragon, where legend says the Prophet Muhammad hid from pirates.
• Bouni and Chomoni Beach (East Coast): curving down the eastern shore, Chomoni Beach is arguably the finest swimming bay on Grande Comore: a wide crescent of fine white coral sand punctuated by jet-black basalt boulders, with wooden beach shacks grilling fresh catch at weekends.

Langouste à la Vanille, Madaba and What to Eat in Moroni

Because Grande Comore grows its own Bourbon vanilla, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and coconut alongside daily catches of yellowfin tuna and reef lobster, Comorian food is deeply aromatic:

• Langouste à la vanille: the archipelago's signature celebratory dish, fresh local spiny lobster poached in butter and coconut cream infused with split black Comorian vanilla pods, served with coconut rice.
• Madaba (the island cousin of ravitoto): young cassava leaves pounded for hours in a wooden mortar, then slow-simmered with thick coconut milk, onions, garlic and dried or fresh fish until silky.
• Mkatra foutra and grilled brochettes: warm, sesame-sprinkled coconut flatbreads eaten in the evening along the Itsandra corniche alongside charcoal-grilled beef or tuna skewers (mshakiki), fried plantains and roasted breadfruit.
• Poutou chilli sauce: a fiery table condiment of crushed bird's-eye chillies, lime juice, onion and green mango; add just a drop at a time.