Comoros

Fish and marriage ... it’s a good thing we’re traveling virtually because although I have seen fish and had a beautiful wedding, the way they do these things in Comoros is extravagantly out of my price range. Let’s talk about the Grand Marriage first. I thought planning my wedding was a lot of work, so I am extremely grateful I didn’t have to hand make festive wedding clothes, organize two weeks of celebrations for the whole town, and freely pass out money throughout the festivities. Fortunately for those in the Comoros, you can get married first and then can take years getting ready for the Grand Marriage. Here’s how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq3JD8AfcCw

The second amazingly expensive thing to do in Comoros is to build your own submersible and dive to volcanic caves 200 meters under the sea in hopes of seeing the coelacanth.

· Why do people do this? Because you will never see a coelacanth in an aquarium – they can’t live at the surface.

· Why is this important? Fossils of the coelacanth have been found on every continent except Antarctica, but scientists thought they went extinct with the dinosaurs until one was found in 1938.

· What kind of people do this? My favorite of the many interesting real-life characters searching for the coelacanth is Hans Fricke. He escaped from Iron Curtain East Germany when he realized that if he stayed, he would never see a coral reef. My husband Allan might have done the same in that situation.

· How can we do this while staying at home? I did this virtually by reading A Fish Caught in Time: The Search for the Coelacanth by Samantha Weinberg. This book tells the story of finding one coelacanth alive and the 15 year search for another coelacanth and their home in the water surrounding Comoros. I had never heard of the coelacanth before I started reading this book, but Allan knew about it of course! If you want to learn a lot about both Comoros history and the people who study fish, I recommend the book. If you just want a quick look at the fish, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__Woo6L1bl0

After those two expensive things, you might think the rest of Comoros is a little less extreme, but no, the one book by a Comoran author which I found translated into English consists of one single very long sentence. I have not yet been brave enough to read A Girl Called Eel by Ali Zamir but it is available on Amazon. If you read it, let me know what you think.

I did read and appreciate a magazine article by Nassuf Djailani, “The Crossing toward Hope,” which is translated on Words Without Borders: https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/article/the-crossing-toward-hope

These are all snapshots of Comoros. If you want a good overview both of the country and the archipelago, see Geography Now! Comoros at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFccny3iGbo

If you want to try the food, here are some recipes: https://www.arabamerica.com/dining-in-the-paradisical-comoros-islands/

If you want to daydream about a trip to these beautiful islands, check out https://www.thecrazytourist.com/10-best-places-visit-comoros/ and if you can’t wait to get away, when this pandemic is over, you might want to plan travel to Comoros using your local travel advisor. Shout out to my favorite travel advisor, Kaitlin Darnell at Laura's Travel in Redlands. May the travel industry survive and thrive - may we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace and health to flourish in Comoros and throughout the world.

Photo Credit: David Stanley, https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidstanleytravel/10886895544