Shisiwani National Park

Shisiwani covers the coast and water around Anjouan's western peninsula, one of the national parks created in the 2010s to protect what is left of the Comoros' marine environment: reef, seagrass, mangrove and the islets offshore. Turtles nest on the beaches and the reef here is in better condition than around the island's more populated shores. Community teams manage it. The Comoros created six national parks in a single programme in 2010, and this was among the first to get working management on the ground. Its boundaries take in both the peninsula shore and the water out to the islets.

What you actually see

• The reef - coral in better shape than around the populated coasts.
• The mangrove - the stands along the peninsula shore.
• The turtle beaches - nesting sites within the park.
• The community management - local teams running the protected area.

When to go

May to October is the drier and calmer season. The rains run November to April. Turtle nesting runs through much of the year.

Honest expectations

The park is young and infrastructure is minimal to nonexistent. Access needs arranging locally. Fishing pressure remains a problem inside the boundaries.

Nearby

Bimbini is within it, and Mutsamudu is east.