Mutsamudu Medina

Mutsamudu climbs from its port into a medina that has traded across the Indian Ocean since the seventeenth century: narrow alleys squeeze between coral-stone houses, some bridged over into cool tunnels, and the doorways carry the carved wooden doors of the Swahili world - studded, scrolled, and older than most of what stands around them. Above the town, the star-shaped citadel built against pirate raids keeps cannon aimed at an empty sea and the best rooftop view of the anchorage. The air does the rest: Anjouan is the perfume isle, and clove harvests and ylang-ylang stills scent the streets in season.

Highlights

• The carved doors - Swahili-Arab woodwork on the medina's oldest houses.
• The covered alleys - tunnel lanes bridged by the houses above.
• The citadel - the 18th-century pirate-watch fort over the roofs.
• The spice air - cloves drying and ylang stills scenting the season.

When to go

May to November is the cooler, drier trade-wind season; the clove and ylang harvests perfume the second half of the year. Fridays hush the town around prayers - time visits with respect.

Before you go

The medina is lived-in and unrestored - crumbling coral walls and open drains alongside the beauty, with almost no tourist infrastructure; a local guide unlocks doors and context that walking alone cannot. Dress modestly in this observant town. Transport to and around Anjouan takes patience and loose plans.

Nearby

The ylang-ylang distilleries of the hills, Moya's beaches and Mount Ntingui's forests.