Lac Sale

At Grande Comore's northern tip the coast road passes a perfect volcanic bowl holding a lake that should not quite exist: Lac Sale, salty despite no visible connection to the sea that crashes metres away, its colour shifting between green and deep blue with the light and season. Legend explains it as a village drowned for refusing hospitality to a stranger - the Comoros' most-told tale - and locals treat the water with a mix of respect and matter-of-factness. The crater rim gives a two-minute climb to a double view: the moody lake inside, the bright Indian Ocean outside, and the sacred mosque village of Bangoi-Kouni just down the road.

What you actually see

• The crater lake - the salt water shifting green to blue in its bowl.
• The rim view - lake on one side, open ocean on the other.
• Bangoi-Kouni - the whitewashed 'miracle mosque' village nearby.
• The legend - the drowned-village tale every guide tells differently.

When to go

Any dry-season day slots it into the northern coast loop with Chomoni or the Galawa coast beaches; late afternoon deepens the lake's colours. It is a stop, not a destination - time it as one.

Honest expectations

Expect a viewpoint visit of an hour at most, informal 'guides' of village children, and litter that ebbs and flows - the magic is the setting and the story, not facilities. Swimming is possible but locally frowned on by some; ask rather than assume. The descent path inside the crater is loose scree.

Nearby

The northern beaches, Bangoi-Kouni's old mosque and Moroni down the west coast.