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The Comoros Islands. Most people would struggle to locate this country on a map.

This small nation sits in the Indian Ocean between east Africa and north Madagascar. It’s seldom visited, which made me want to visit all the more.

I’ve introduced you to Mohéli, the smallest, wildest of the three islands.

Now it’s welcome to Anjouan, a bustling island with a rebellious streak – but blessed with tropical landscapes. CONTINUE READING BELOW

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Anjouan is best reached by small inter-island aircraft, an experience in itself.

My home was the quaint and rather empty Johanna Livingstone Hotel, decorated in bat motifs and with a terrace perfectly situated to watch some fiery tropical sunsets.

It was situated in a quieter corner of Anjouan’s main city Mutsamudu, with the pretty Al Amal beach a short walk away, where we rare tourists mixed with locals enjoying the refreshing ocean.

Ylang ylang blossoms are a valuable crop throughout the Comores

The capital city’s old centre is a dense maze of ancient alleyways and many nods to the Comoros Island’s Islamic faith. The array of market stalls and throngs of people going about their business is dizzying.

On the other side of the island sits the city of Domoni, with its own set of narrow little streets and beguiling buildings. 

The city is crowned by a bristle of gold-topped minarets making up an impressive mosque and resting place for this small nation’s first post-independence leader.

Anjouan’s more rural hinterland is filled with lush valleys, hills and rugged coastal spots which in a country more developed for tourism would be an azure-coloured holidaymakers’ playground. 

But it was the urban centres of this island which were truly eye-opening, where European visitors are seldom seen picking their way around the streets.

A place that’s yet to be discovered.

Next time: Grand Comore, this archipelago’s biggest island. But does biggest mean the best?