One of the most pristine and untouched areas of the Comoros is the small island of Chissioua Ouénéfou, just off the south coast off Mohéli, near Nioumachoua. It's part of a marine reserve. This former leper colony has a beautiful sandy beach at the southern end, which makes for good camping, and offers an excellent vantage point to go green sea turtle watching. Green sea turtles, almost extinct a couple of years ago, lumber about the island of Chissioua Ouénéfou with all their old grace, but with a new protection order that prohibits their capture or endangerment. A couple of days of swimming, fishing, exploring the island on foot, turtle watching and camping out will see you right.To get to Chissioua Ouénéfou, you need to fly, or boat it, to Fomboni on Mohéli. From Fomboni take a taxi-brousse to the village of Nioumachoua on the southern coast where you'll have to engage with a bit of palaver with a local boatman to negotiate a price for delivery to the island. From Moroni on Grand Comore to Chissioua Ouénéfou is a distance of 90km (56mi).

The small scruffy village of Moya, on the island of Anjouan, is the type of place where you could just about drop out of existence it's so remote. It's so isolated that white faces still cause something of a minor riot. The village overlooks a fantastic beach - the kind you could use as a backdrop for all those stranded-on-a-beautiful-island films - and is protected by a reef, which in turn offers fabulous snorkelling experiences. Stay a while at the local hotel, the only place to stay in the village, and have a seafood feast to go with your obligatory multicoloured sunset.To get to Moya from Grande Comore, take a plane or boat to the island of Anjouan, and from Anjouan's capital, Mutsamudu, take a taxi-brousse. That's a total distance of about 135km (84mi).