Parc Marin de Moheli & Quest for the Livingstone Fruit Bat



My driver and guide with our ride

Ylang-Ylang

I had one full day left in Moheli and as per my plan I would be embarking on a journey through the southern part of the island. Fortunately with Romesh’s help I had arranged for a bike and a make shift guide who was going to take me around the island. Initially the owner of the bike was going to be my driver but he didn’t speak any English so I convinced him to rather send his brother who could speak a little English.

Driving through the mountains

Hamlets along the way

Cloves being dried on the road

We started out towards Parc Marin de Moheli around 7am. This was the only national park in Comoros and I had heard that this was the place to see if in Moheli. We drove through the villages of Iconi, Kangani, Wanani and Moihani and it was just as enchanting a ride as the one from Fomboni to Itsamia if not better.

There was hardly any traffic while the roads were not too shabby plus it did not hurt that we were riding a motorbike. That whole day we might have passed just a handful of vehicles on our way.

Looking at the islets from the beach

The ride took us through the southern edge of the island with the wonderful aroma of ylang-ylang and small hamlets all along the way. Comoros is one of the world’s biggest exporters of ylang-ylang which is used in perfumes and has a earthy aromatic smell. I had some petals of the flower in my pocket and that whole day anything I put in the pocket had the wonderful aroma of ylang-ylang when I pulled it out.

After about 2 hours we arrived at a village called Nioumachoua just at the edge of the Parc. I took a dip in the coral waters at the Parc and here’s how I would describe my 360 degree view.


- A super clean soft sandy beach with just enough rocky outcrops at the sides to break the landscape.
- Crystal clear shallow aquamarine water
- Just off the coast were 5 islets strategically placed with their own sandy beaches with the Indian Ocean forming a beautiful backdrop.
- Beautiful lizards crawling in the woods just off the beach indicating the health of the ecosystem there (ok…maybe not everyone’s fantasy)
- An occasional fisherman in his dugout canoe on the coral water making for a postcard setting
- On the other side of the coast were cloud covered mountains with plantation at the foot and primary rainforest at the top of the mountains...
- And finally, the best part of it was that all of this was totally…totally isolated with not a single person let alone a tourist in sight. I can understand why Lonely Planet said that this is the place to be if anyone wants to drop off the face of earth.

Beach where i could not resist jumping into

These lizards were just off the beach

My backpack has something to say :)

Too bad people don’t know about this place and its such a isolated place for most tourists to come visit.

After taking in the sight for about an hour, we decided to move on to towards the village of Ouallah 2 which was a further hour and half away.

We stopped by the Sambadjou beach which was totally different from the one at Nioumachou. The beach was marshier and just seemed a little wilder and since the beach was at low tide it added a different dimension to the setting. We rested there for a little but had to get moving again as we wanted to reach the village of Ouallah 1.


Fishing boat

Domino - fav passtime for Comorians

It was around 2 pm already and we just had enough time to see the last thing I wanted to see in Moheli...the Livingstone Fruit Bat.

The Livingstone Fruit Bat is one of the largest bats in the world with a wingspan of almost 6 feet and in the wild, they are found nowhere else on earth except the two islands of Comoros, Anjouan and Moheli. After we got to the village of Ouallah 1, we had to get a local guide and let him lead us on a steep and slippery hike through the montane forests of Moheli for about an hour before reaching the roosting spot of the bats.


Beach of Sambadjou


Very close to the end of our hike just before the roosting spot of the bats we were climbing through pretty pristine primary forests with no trails and I was practically climbing small trees and vines to catch a glimpse of the bats while getting bitten by massive mosquitoes (I had my malaria pills with me but was hoping that I don’t need to use them).

When we got there the bats were far away and not clearly visible and even with my 4X zoom camera I could not get a good picture of the bats but the hike up there and just catching the shadow of these wild bats was totally worth it. The bats are extremely rare and number just around a thousand in the wild. There are a few community based projects that encourage locals like our guide to protect their natural treasures and promote tourism so that they can have a means of income that is sustainable.

The bats roost on the steep slopes of these mountains

As I started to descend my thought were on the success of these projects with so little tourism in the Comoros and a burgeoning young population competing for resources that left me wondering if these bats will survive or will they soon be consigned to history books.

On the bright side I totally loved the hike even though the mosquitoes stung me like no end. This certainly wetted my appetite for visiting some of the central African countries like Congo and Gabon. We will see about that later…

Trying to get to the roosting spot

Since the pictures from my camera are not very clear, here's a link to see a picture and read more about it Wiki site on Livingstone's Fruit Bat



As we headed back to Itsamia, I persuaded my driver to allow me to drive the motorbike with the reasoning that I used to have a similar bike in India. We got back to Itsamia just after sunset and right in time to break the Ramadan fast. I was invited over to my guide’s house to share in a meal. It was me and six other guys who were eating from the same plate. The food was a Comorian variety of fish curry and cassava which had to be dipped into the curry with our bare hands and soak the curry and chunks of fish and gobble it down.

The black shade is the bat

Gas station on Moheli

All the ladies of the house huddled together and ate from a different plate on the other side of the house.

Even though the food was delicious and I wanted more, I tried to refrain from eating more as I did not want to eat their more than my share since theirs was a very humble family. That was another one of the moments that I will probably never forget and will forever be thankful for their noble gesture to allow a stranger into their house for a meal.


After the meal I was invited over to another family’s house where it seemed as the kids from the entire village came out to spend some time with me.

It just felt as though the village had opened up to me on the second day and wanted to interact. That night, I took numerous pictures with all the kids and they even gave me one of their traditional Comorian robes (Kanzu) to wear.


Me wearing a Kanzu


By 11pm I was tired as hell but went to the beach instead to spend some time with the sea turtles one last time and reflect on a wonderful day…till about 1am when my body finally gave in.