The volcano of Mt. Karthala…

The country of Comoros consists of 3 or 4 islands depending on which side of the fence your are since one of the four islands is claimed by Comoros but is administered by France since the people of that particular island voted to remain a part of France rather than be part of an independent nation when they gained independence from France in 1975.

The international airport for Comoros is located on the biggest of the Comorian islands called Grand Comore, also called Ngazidja which mean in the place of fire due to the fact that an active volcano forms much of the base of the island. The volcano atop Mt. Karthala is an extremely active one with more than 20 eruptions since the 19th century and is one of the largest active volcanoes (last eruption in 2005) in the world with a crater that is 3kmX4km. My prime objective of visiting Comoros…scale Mt. Karthala which is 2,361 m (7,746 ft) high.

My flight to Ngazidja took me from Tana in Madagascar to Nairobi in Kenya and then south again to Ngazidja so even though my flight left Tana around noon, by the time I got into Comoros it was already 6:30pm. It seemed as though I was the only tourist on the plane which was not surprising considering that only about 25,000 tourists visit the Comoros each year due primarily to the fact that its so isolated and unheard of and politically unstable. Comoros is one of the most politically unstable nations in the world with more than 20 coups in its 35 years of existence as an independent nation.

I was quite excited as the plane landed because it was the first time that was going to be visiting a predominantly Muslim nation. On the plane I had met Abdul who was a professor of History at a local university and he seemed like a really nice guy and wanted to make sure that that I didn’t have any inconvenience at the airport or getting to Moroni, the capital of the country.

Upon arrival at the immigration desk I was directed to the immigration room where I photographed so my visa on arrival could be processed for a very pricey 60 Euros! Abdul got through immigration quick and told me that he would wait for me at the baggage collection area while I get through my immigration chores.

It was there where I met Captain Ali who was the airport security chief and spoke fairly good English and I was pretty pleased since my proficiency in French was a big Zero. As he saw my passport, he asked me what the hell I was doing in Comoros and looked at me incredulously when I told him that I was backpacking and wanted to hike Mt. Karthala. I guess he did not expect an Indian backpacker in Comoros…He went out of his way and asked me to wait at the immigration office while he got me a reputable taxi driver (who would not rip me off) and who could take me to a hotel that night and then hook me up with a guide for the hike the next day.

I caught up with Abdul later as I was ready to leave and we decided to meet for a coffee after I return from the hike. The taxi driver dropped me off at a guest house after a 40min ride from the village where the airport was situated to the capital Moroni. No sooner had he dropped me off he set off to find a guide while I checked in and unwound. By the time Moosa (my guide) arrived it was already 9:30pm and he suggested that we hike a day later as he needed time to prepare for the expedition but I managed to convince him that my time in Comoros was limited and the next day was the only day I could do it.

I gave him an advance so he could prepare for our expedition (food, tents, sleeping bags, water, etc) and we decided to start the climb at 6am the next morning. As I went to bed that night I was pretty satisfied that I was still on schedule with my original plan. On the plane, I really was not sure if I would be able to get it all arranged after arriving in Comoros late in the day, especially since it was Ramadan and the country effectively shuts sown at 5pm.

The next day Moosa showed up promptly at 6:05am and we rode a taxi that he had arranged to go from the guest house to the foot of the mountain from where we would start the ascend. The starting point looked totally innocuous with a small alley between a couple houses in an unremarkable corner. A litter further down from there we soon crossed a heap of urban trash and I began wondering if this is how it was going to be!

The crater of Mt. Karthala active volcano

My worries were unfounded as we soon were walking through banana and clove plantations. We had 2 bottles of water each and the hike was going to be a grueling 7 hour long so we tried to economize our water intake. Our first break came after a hike through the plantation an hour later and no sooner had we stopped, we were being ripped apart by mosquitoes. There we met a Comorian lady who was heading to harvest the bananas from the plantation and she joined us for a little while on our way up.

After another hour we entered the rain forest region of the mountain where the hike got a little more arduous as the trail was steep with slippery and soggy soil. Around 3 hrs into the hike I felt the strain of the hike but I kept myself distracted by picking and eating wild raspberries and strawberries for the next couple hours. We soon crossed the rain forest region and entered a region of stunted trees and shrubs. At this point we were still about 3 hours away from the peak which was shrouded by clouds.

At this point we dropped off our camping gear and hid it behind some bushes and continued onwards with far less baggage on our shoulders. We soon entered the region of the mountain that is almost always covered by cloud. The whole area was shrouded in thick mist with moss covered trees that were totally bare and beautiful white and pink flowers on the ground. It was an surreal and somewhat mysterious setting.

A further 30mins and we entered a region that was dominated by ferns and small shrubs which gradually gave way to bare black volcanic soil. Then…after about 6 hours of climbing we arrived at the edge of outside crater and from there we could see the fern and small shrubs on the outside of the crater while the inside of the crater was spectacularly other worldly. I have never been to moon or other extra terrestrial terrain but I don’t think it would be any different from the barren black desert that I encountered there.

Rain and mist descending at the peak

We walked a little further to the inside rim of the 3km X 4km crater and the land was littered with chunks of rocks as big as a regular size TV. The rocks were evidently thrown out of the volcano when it last erupted in 2005 and it vividly painted a picture of the hostile setting when there might have been lava and ash spewing out while big chunks of rocks were flying as projectiles.



A further 10mins of walking bought us to the edge of the internal crater from where I could see the volcano smoking. I barely had time to rest at the edge for 5mins while having a sandwich when the clouds descended as to suggest that Mother Nature had figured out that we had discovered her secret place and she was pretty upset about it. We even got showered by heavy rain and as the land was bare to the bone, there was no place to take shelter. I waited in the rain for about 15 minutes hoping that the clouds would clear up so I could get to see the volcano again but all we got was heavier downpour. With that, we decided that there was no point waiting any longer and headed back to our base camp to set up our tent for the night.

We arrived at the base camp 2 hours later completely drenched but it was fantastic walking through the rain and the mist. At the base camp, we soon got a fire started and put up the tent and I changed into my spare clothes. The food was basic French bread, barbequed chicken with Comorian spices and cheese but boy was it delicious...We stayed by the fire discussing Comorian politics and Moosa’s life before hitting the sack by the fire where we left out wet gear to dry overnight.