MAYOTEE, FRENCH COMOROS … CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE

So we left Zanzibar … another day at sea …. still some rough water but not like the other day. We are on our way to Comoros … another one I never heard of … but in this case … neither had most of our fellow passengers … and we have some pretty “worldly” shipmates … as you might imagine. This is not a “first world cruise” or a “second” for many of them … more like their “tenth” plus … so at least I was in good company.

So the Comoros is off the east coast of Africa between Mozambique and Madagascar, a small archipelago with 4 islands.

So the history of the Comoros is very much like the other ports in East Africa. In the 15’th Century the Arabs invaded the islands … converting the natives ( Bantus… they were the indigenous inhabitants I mentioned before) along with Malays and Indonesians … all converted to Islam. ( No wonder why Islam is 24% of the worlds religion )

Following the Arabs … in the 1700’s … the “neighbors” from Madagascar invaded the Comoros …. this was followed in 1843 by the French …. who gained control of Mayotte making it an official French colony. By 1885 … France took the entire Comoros archipelago … ruling with French Traders.

The French maintained control of Comoros for the next 125 plus years until 1975 … when 3 of the 4 Comoros islands declared independence.

One remaining child …. Mayotte … stayed with France to benefit from French Development Funds … in 2009 the people voted almost unanimously ( 95%) for stronger ties to France.

So the fourth island in the Comoros … Mayotee … 5000 miles from France … turns out to be the only island of the Comoros Archipelago “French Administered”…. and that comes with “its benefits” and “its problems.”

The population in Mayotte is around 350k … having grown rapidly over the last 25 years …. over half of the people are under age 20. Only 50% have French Passports … and that’s a big issue … “Illegal Immigration” … the French provide social equality and financial aid that the neighbors ( The other 3 Comoros Islands ) don’t get …. the average salary on Mayotte is twice that of the stepsister islands where the salary is half … so you know what happens next …

Mayotte is now a magnate for Comoros Islanders looking for a better life … and they are willing to risk everything crossing the rough seas of the Indian Ocean to do it … 50,000 people died attempting the crossing in the past 15 years.

Mayotte is the oldest of the islands … made up of 2 islands … 144 square miles. ( About the size of the Island of Lanai in Hawaii ). A coral barrier reef surrounds the country creating one of the largest lagoons in the world.

The name … Mayotte … is believed to have come from Mawuti … a shortened Arabic word … meaning “Island of Death” … folklore has it … the name came about because of ship wreaks hitting the coral reefs surrounding the island … folklore or “no folklore” …. I don’t think I would want to live on an island called the “Island of Death.” Luckily there is another nickname for the island … “Perfume Island” … named for the fragrance of the ilang – ilang tree.

So on our walking tour we saw one of these trees …. the fragrance comes from the flowers that is used in Channel and other popular fine perfumes.

French is “the” language of Mayotte but 60% can not speak it … most speak a Comoran language … related to Swahili. Today 4% of the population is from France …. work in government positions … but do not speak Comoran …. ( wonder how they converse with the locals ) The currency is Euros and the predominant religion ( 96% ) is Sunni Muslim.

Mayotte is very poor with 77% living below the French poverty line. 65% do live in houses built of solid materials … encouraged by the French government … vs a metal shed. About a third have no running water but 75% have electricity. And they like their tv … there are more tvs than refrigerators. Unemployment is high but government positions are well paying … though predominantly sourced by the French.

The island has some beautiful wildlife … unusual species of birds, marine life and the “Lemurs” monkey.

But then there was the most memorable moment … the mud on woman’s faces … in this case … color coordinated to match her outfit.

Come to find out they do this to protect their skin from the sun … it is also considered a decorative mask. ( … to me it looks like someone ran out the door in the middle of a facial …. I am not trying to poke fun at another culture but that’s what came to mind. )

The paste used is ground up wood or coral and applied to the face. It is used daily and the woman decorate their faces for special occasions.

They sold both the wood and the ground up powder in the market but took only euros … most places take US dollars … they were definitely not geared for Visa … so no chance to try the paste.

I was apprehensive to touch anything anyhow …. we were told there was a Cholera outbreak ( 3200 cases reported at the end of April ) so we were instructed not to eat or drink anything or use the bathrooms …. an interesting way to tour an island. Do we pee behind a tree????

I think many of us were a bit nervous about the Cholera outbreak … especially post COVID … but for the locals … this is daily life … just another day.

Mayotte is in a unique situation … “claimed” by the country of Comoros but “administered” by France … one of the few remaining places “left over” from the days of French colonialism.

The Mayotte people are rooted in Comoran culture … influenced by Western, Eastern and African civilizations. A group of people of color … who happen to be Muslim … and would like some of the benefits of a European way of life.

They seem to be “caught in the middle” … It is a culture uniquely its own … time will tell how this all plays out.

NEXT STOP … MAPUTO, MOZAMBIQUE … DAY 151