Nioumachoua

Nioumachoua is the second-largest town in Moheli. In the south of the island, it is the base to explore Moheli Natural Park.

By bus
There is a regular bus service from Fomboni. Buses start running at 7AM from the market, one way ticket costs FC750 and it takes around two hours.

Buses departing from Nioumachoua leave at 5AM, it is important to reserve you seat with the driver the day before. All buses departing from Nioumachoua have Fomboni as final destination, but they can drive from east or west road. The west road is longer than the east road, but it is in much better conditions.

Travelling from Nioumachoua to Itsamia by bus is tricky. The easiest is travelling back to the capital, Fomboni, and then taking a new bus or shared taxi to Itsamia (shared taxis to Itsamia cost FC500). It can happen that no taxi driver wants to drive to Itsamia, as it is far away. In this case take a taxi to Wanani or Kangani. Wanani is just 12 km to Itsamia, 9 km Kangani-Itsamia, from here try to catch a taxi, hitchhike or just walk. Another option is taking the bus back to Fomboni but stopping in Wanani (12 km far from Itsamia). From here you can try to catch a taxi, hitchhike or walk. There are not many cars to hitchhike, but the few that are around take passengers easily.

By shared taxi
Shared taxis from Fomboni to Nioumachoua run all day long. Take in consideration that due to the fuel shortage and the conditions of the road finding a taxi to travel between the cities in the south can be difficult and expensive (up to FC12,500). Otherwise in Nioumachoua there are a couple of private cars that for a price will take wherever you wish. Take in consideration that the fuel is expensive, so private cars are expensive as well. By November 2018 one litre of fuel costs FC1,000.

By motorbike
If you are based in Nioumachoua a very good option is renting a motorbike for yourself. Renting a motorbike costs FC7,500 per day.

By rented car
Renting a car without driver is very difficult, it cost FC20,000 per day. But the real problem is to convince someone to rent you a car, locals don't trust a lot on tourist's skills in these roads.

By boat
You can travel to other cities in the coast with fisherman boats, every trip may cost more than FC10,000 depending on how far you wanna go. Prices might look a bit expensive, but fuel is expensive.

See

 * Whale watching from July to October
 * Coral reefs and inhabited isles
 * Fishing on the reef with local fishermen
 * Livingstone bats (giant fruit eating bats endemic on Moheli)
 * Boating, sailing, canoes and kayaks, bikes
 * Hiking in coastal and primary rain forest
 * Civets (small wild leopard type cats)
 * Bird Watching (endemic species!)
 * Traditional villages
 * Local artisanal (carpets from sisal, potteries, embroideries)

Do
For every activity at the Natural Park a fee of FC2.500 is required. Importantly, the fee permission is paid per person just once as it lasts for three months.



Go next

 * Itsamia is a beautiful villa at the eastern point of the island, where green turtles come to bury their eggs.
 * Oualla 1 and Oualla 2 used to be the same village, but in the 90s a massive inundation forced the inhabitants of Oualla 1 to leave behind their homes and resettle themselves in a nearby area, since then called Oualla 2. The most protective people of Oualla 1 stayed during he flown, meanwhile the ones who left founded the new city stayed until today. In such way the families of Oualla split up in two. Oualla is the main base to explore the rainforest in search of the famous Livingston bats, one can stay in the communitary bungalows of Oualla 1. By November 2018 the bungalows of Oualla 2 were closed do to restoration.