Norris-Greys in Africa 2023

The Comoros islands is a set of four volcanic islands in Southeastern Africa, which can be found in the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean – we’re East of Mozambique and North West of Madagascar! Three of the islands - Grande Comore, Moheli, Anjouan - make up the Union of the Comoros, declared independent of France in 1975; the island of Mayotte is an overseas department of France. There is clear animosity from the Comorans about the status of the French island of Mayotte - they believe it should belong to the Union of the Comoros and that France finagled them out if it for political reasons (and the majority vote in the Mayotte referendum should have been ignored!).      Dragon's Back rocks. The religion of the vast majority (98%) of the 1 million population of the Union of Comoros is Sunni Islam. It is the only country in the Arab League which is entirely in the Southern hemisphere.  We're told that each of the hundreds of villages have around seven or eig...

After the unsettling, but fascinating, encounter with the Mursi tribe yesterday we set off on another long road trip along dirt tracks and dried out river beds. These river beds are prone to flash floods that seemingly come out of nowhere. Consequently, the driver has one eye on the track and another on the sky. A torrent of water ripping through an Omo Valley village 15 Minutes earlier it was dry!!! The next tribe we find are the Nyangatom who are noticeably calmer and much more welcoming. You can read a little about them  here. They live in the polygamous-husband's family compound, each wife having her own hut. We meet the three wives of one wealthy Nyangatom man - each of them would have 'cost' at least 40 head of cattle! They each have neck or head decoration that signifies their own accumulated wealth and therefore their importance. Wife 2 Wife 3 Wife number 1, the primary/first wife has a post on the top of her headdress. Although the Nyangatom have a reputation as fi...