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Scuba Diving in Moheli
The smallest and least-developed of the Comoros, ringed by the country's marine national park in the Mozambique Channel. Moheli's reefs and islets are a nursery for green turtles, humpback whales, dolphins and dugongs, and a solar-powered eco-lodge at Nioumachoua is the base for diving some of the Indian Ocean's richest waters.
Why here
Moheli is the wild heart of the Comoros and one of the Indian Ocean's best-kept diving secrets. The waters around it form the Moheli Marine Park, the country's first protected area, set in the northern Mozambique Channel, a stretch recognised as one of the richest zones of marine biodiversity anywhere. Diving off the islets at Nioumachoua, you drop onto dense hard and soft coral among green and hawksbill turtles, which nest on the park's beaches in nationally important numbers, alongside reef fish in clouds, moray eels, rays and pods of dolphins. From July to October humpback whales move through to calve, and snorkellers and divers sometimes hear and see them; dugongs and, in the deep offshore water, the living-fossil coelacanth, share the same sea. There is almost no development and few other divers, so this is remote, low-impact diving with an eco-lodge for a base, closer to how reefs looked a generation ago.
Best months
Diving is warm year round, but the dry season from May to November brings the calmest seas and clearest water and is the time to come; the wet season from December to April is stormier with cyclone risk. Humpback whales pass from July to October, the peak for marine encounters. Water is warm enough for a 3mm wetsuit. Conditions range from sheltered lagoon and islet dives suited to beginners to deeper reef sites for certified divers, and visibility is generally strong in the dry months.
Getting there & around
Note: the Comoros are under a US State Dept Level 2 advisory (Exercise Increased Caution) for crime, unrest and limited healthcare; medical facilities are very basic, there is no recompression chamber on the islands, so dive conservatively, carry good insurance including evacuation cover, and check your government's current advisory. Moheli is reached by a short domestic flight or boat from Grande Comore; onward travel is slow and infrastructure limited. The eco-lodge at Nioumachoua arranges diving, gear and boats by advance reservation. Bring anything specialised you need, as resupply is difficult.
Skill levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced
Schools & guides (1)
Moheli Laka Lodge
OutfitterMoheli Laka Lodge is the only eco-lodge on Moheli, set in a palm grove on the beach at Nioumachoua inside the Moheli Marine Park, and runs the island's diving through its Laka Lodge Plongee dive centre with certified instructors and gear by reservation. Its solar-powered operation dives the coral of the marine park among green and hawksbill turtles, manta rays and dolphins, offers snorkelling and dolphin safaris, and puts guests in the water with humpback whales from July to October.