Read Around the World March 2022 – The Comoros Islands

Map link

In March I escaped the island of the United Kingdom for the Islands of the Comoros (the weather was much better)

Fun facts about the Comoros Islands from this website

The country’s islands are mostly volcanic with interiors that range from low hills to steep mountains.

• The islands of Comoros have on one side the Indian Ocean and the Mozambique Channel on the other. It is the Mozambique Channel that separates Africa from the country of Madagascar.
• Comoros is the second-largest producer of vanilla in the world. It is second only to Madagascar.
• The country is the largest producer of ylang-ylang, which is an ingredient used in the making of fragrance oils.
• Livingstone’s Fruit Bat, discovered in Comoros by the Scottish explorer in 1863, is the world’s largest bat, with a wingspan of around six feet.
• More than 20 species of birds are also unique to the Comoros, including the Karthala Scops-Owl, the Anjouan Scops-Owl, and the Humblot’s Flycatcher.
• TheWest Indian Ocean coelacanth[2] (Latimeria chalumnae), sometimes known as the African coelacanth[3] is one of two extant species of coelacanth, a rare order of vertebrates more closely related to lungfish, reptiles andmammals than to the common ray-finned fishes. It has a vivid blue pigment, and is the better known of the two extant species and was long assumed to breed only in the Comoros.

I chose to visit the Comoros Islands via A Fish Caught in Time: The Search for the Coelacanth by Samantha Weinberg

This book provided a fascinating insight into the discovery of the Coelacanth thought to be the missing link between fish and human life a true fossil fish. The Coelacanth was originally discovered in the Comoros and for years scientists believed this was the only place the fish inhabited however as more of the world became travelled and discovered Coelacanths have been found elsewhere.

I loved the details of its discovery, how it was identified, the length scientist went to in the search for more fish of the same species and the eventual realisation that there was a responsibility of those who had discovered it to protect it for future generations.

Well worth reading.

Other readers visited in the following ways:

Currey from Litsy –  Last of the Pirates by Samantha Weinberg this was rated so so.

Did you join us on this trip? How did you choose to visit?

More Islands coming up…in April we visit the Solomon Islands share your plans here.