Mount Karthala
An active volcano that fills the southern half of Grande Comore, climbed through cloud forest and giant heather to a caldera three kilometres wide.
- Arrival
- Prince Said Ibrahim International · HAH
- To the summit
- About 27 km from the airport in a straight line
- Private jets
- HAH, airport of entry
- Best time
- September
The city
Up through the forest to the rim.
Karthala reaches 2,361 metres, the highest ground in the Comoros, and it has erupted more than twenty times since the nineteenth century. In April 2005 and again in May 2006 it woke after years of calm; in 2006 some two thousand people were moved out, and from Moroni you could see the lava glowing at the top. The lake that had settled in the crater after 1991 has since disappeared under grey ash.
The climb takes six to eight hours, and a local guide is required. Evergreen forest covers the slopes between about 1,200 and 1,800 metres, with four birds that live nowhere else; higher up come stunted trees and the giant heather Erica comorensis. Some walkers sleep near the rim to watch the sun come up over the caldera.
- The caldera About three kilometres by four, ringed by ash fields since the eruptions of 2005 and 2006.
- The cloud forest Moist evergreen woodland on the middle slopes, home to four bird species found only on this mountain.
- Karthala National Park Created in 2010 over 262 square kilometres, with the upper mountain also listed as a Ramsar wetland since 2006.
Arriving
Land at Hahaya, drive to the trail.
The island’s international airport lies on the north-west coast at Hahaya, about twenty-seven kilometres from the summit as the crow flies.
- Nairobi 2 h 05
- Seychelles 2 h 20
- Abu Dhabi 5 h 45
- Doha 5 h 45
- Athens 7 h 55 long-range jet
When to go
September.
These are Moroni’s figures, taken at sea level; the summit is far cooler, especially at night. Rain falls in every month, heaviest from January to April, so the trail is at its best in September, when the coast gets about 70 mm.
- 27° J 337
- 27° F 291
- 27° M 274
- 27° A 280
- 26° M 213
- 25° J 167
- 24° J 183
- 24° A 130
- 25° S 70
- 26° O 101
- 27° N 107
- 27° D 211
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