This is Comoros

Imagine all around you stands hundreds of thousands of trees, such as palm trees, mango trees, and many other wide assortments of tropical fruit trees. As you turn around you are greeted by the clear, blue ocean that seems almost too clear and too blue to even exist. One might think at first they have landed on a tropical island in the Caribbean. But look closer and you see villages filled with houses made of cement, and some of tin. A singular road that leads to a capital, whose size can’t compare to that of even some of the resorts that exist on major tropical islands. The language surrounding you is not that of Spanish, nor English, but instead French and on some occasions their own native language. Instead of seeing hundreds of old cathedrals and monasteries, one will hear the call to prayer and mosques galore (sometimes even in places you would never presume to be a mosque). Move the idea of a tropical island in the Caribbean to East Africa between Madagascar and Tanzania, and you have landed yourself on Comoros. A set of 3 to 4 islands (depending on whom you ask) located in the Indian ocean. Unlike other islands similar in size and structure, Comoros is one that is visited only by a handful of people each year. In fact, it is one of the 10 least visited countries in the world. Even with the lack there of tourism, Comoros is quite a beautifully preserved country filled with sites that are seen by few people, even beaches here (outside of the two or three main ones, where the few tourists flock to) are inhabited by very few people and maintain their charms. Here, a place where some can’t even point out on a map (myself included, prior to this experience), I will be serving for 2 years as an English teacher in a village in the south of the largest island (Grand Comore).