The Arab Quarters of Moroni

View of Moroni on the way down from Mt. Karthala

Bank square

At our base camp we still had about 4 hours of descent back from Mt. Karthala to Moroni but I wanted to start at day break so that I would get most of the day to checkout the market in Moroni and maybe ride around the island of Ngazidja.

As soon as we got down the mountain Moosa called a ride for us so we could go to a bank in Moroni so I could withdraw cash from an ATM as US dollars were extremely hard to change to Comorian Francs. Euros were as liquid as the local currency but I did not have a lot of it with me plus I needed a decent amount to pay Moosa, buy air tickets to fly to the island of Moheli the next day and then have additional cash to last me a couple days there.

Bank where I got my cash

View of the Moroni Harbor

When I did my research on Comoros I had heard that there was only one bank on the island of Moheli which was open just one day of the week so I did not want to take a chance and go to Moheli without sufficient cash.

Old Market of Moroni

Way to Mitsamiouli

Back at Ngazidja I found out that there was just one conventional ATM on the whole island where it was possible to walk in and use the a debit card to withdraw cash but unfortunately it only worked with local debit cards so my only bet was to go to a conventional bank, stand in line for 40mins, fill a withdrawal form and use a teller operated cash advance machine which only worked on days when the phone line worked. In short…Comoros is an extremely tough place to get cash if you don’t get enough Euros with you. Oh! and did I forget to mention that it was a Friday in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan so all the bank would be closing at around 11am. I was extremely glad that I got to the bank early because had I not managed to do so I would have been walking a tight rope for the rest of my trip in Comoros.

Flag of Comoros

Medina from the Harbor


With cash in hand I rushed to the office of Comoros Air Service to purchase my plane tickets to Moheli for the next day before they shut down their office for the weekend around noon.

With cash and the air ticket taken care of I now had about 3 hours to go around the island so walked around a little in the old market of Moroni and then caught a local taxi-brusse (minivan taxi) and asked the driver to take me to the last destination on his route.The taxi-brusse took me to a village called Mitsamiouli at the northern tip of the island. The hour long taxi-brusse ride took me through a pretty drive through several small villages that were dotted along the coastline with the sea on one side and coconut tree lined mountains on the other.

Medina & Ancienne Mosquee du Vendredi

Waiting for call for prayer

I walked around till I met Nassuf who found me loitering on the streets of the village and offered to take me on a ride through the village in his car. He barely spoke English and I did not know any French or Comorian so we basically communicated in a combination of English and sign language and I think I used as much Oui (yes in French) as I could. About 30mins later we heard the call for prayer from a local mosque and Nassuf asked me if I wanted to join in for a prayer. Even though I don’t practice any particular religion and generally consider myself to be a little confused with my religious inclinations, a small prayer for something good was not going to harm my inclinations in anyway so I joined him.


Streets of Arab Quarters (Medina)

I was wearing short that day and was fortunate that I had a spare long trouser with me so I put that on, washed my feet and then entered the mosque that Nassuf usually goes to for an afternoon prayer. As I walked out of the mosque, I realized that it had been ages since I last visited one with my only other visit coming several years ago on a school trip somewhere around the 3rd or 4th grade on a school trip to a Hindu temple, Muslim mosque and Christian church to inculcate respect for different religions. I also felt very it was a very fortunate coincidence for me to experience something like that on one of the holiest days for Muslims (a Friday during Ramadan).

Nassuf then walked me back to the taxi brusse station. By the time I reached Moroni back it was almost sunset and just in time to see the harbor and the beautiful whitewashed walls of the Medina (old Arab quarters) and Ancienne Mosquée du Vendredi (Old Friday Mosque) glow beautifully in the fading light of the sun.

Arab Quarters

Later, I just got myself lost in the labyrinthine streets of the Arab quarters which forms the ancient heart of the current city of Moroni. The design of the quarters is said to be based on Arab architecture and is quite interesting with off-white or grey colored flat walls bordering the narrow streets with mostly wooden doors leading either inside the house or into an open air room which further leads to the main entrance to the house.

It was just around 6:30 while I was still wandering the streets of the Arab quarters when I noticed that the city just suddenly became a ghost town as everything shutdown in about 20mins after the sun set. I have never seen anything like that not least the capital of a country. My only explanation is that after a whole day of fasting, all the denizens of Moroni retired to their home to feast and spend time with their families.

With Sabir at his restaurant

Around that time, I was hungry too so I walked back to the guest house and cleaned myself up not knowing when my next shower was going to be. Since all the eateries were already shutdown my only option was to order something at the guest house or check out a nice little restaurant right across from the guest house.

It turned out that that restaurant was owned and operated by a family with Indian origins. As I sat down to have dinner with the owner Sabir I got to know more about him and his family and how they came to live in the Comoros.

Evidently, their ancestors were from the western state of Gujarat in India and it was their great grandfather who first came to Comoros as a trader. Ever since then, the next 4 generation have made Comoros their home. It was fascinating to see Comoros from his viewpoint. That evening I just took it easy and spent time with Sabir and his family and took the opportunity to talk Hindi after a long time.