Maldives
So, we went to the Maldives from Trivandrum, and what can i say, other than, what a dump! Well that is true for Rubbish Island, which is basically a whole island near Male that has been turned over to landfill and the burning of huge amounts of rubbish. You can see the cloud of toxic fumes spreading out over the pristine islands and sea. Apart from that, its really very beautiful, and the people seem genuinely friendly and helpful.
We did get an initially skewed impression as we visited a few resorts to look at their marine biology work and their eco credentials, which were impressive in their scope and the passion with which they were persued.
Sonneva Gili was especially beautiful as it was set almost entirely over the water, Sonneva Fushi was also stunning and the eco work they were doing was very interesting, including using deep water pipes to provide cooling instead of aircon. The marine biologist Anka was lovely and very enthusiastic about her work, and was very much involved in getting the shark fishing ban made law. Banyan Tree was also very welcoming and the staff we met at the marine biology lab were dedicated and extremely interesting and knowledgeable. Here they were working on transplanting corals and growing artificial reefs, partly for tourism and partly to see if they could protect the island from innundation and sea level rise. They were also working to help the visiting turtles, by taking some of the eggs and hatching them and then releasing in the deep water.
After this we went to the Red cross island that was built afresh for the survivors of the tsunami. This was a particularly interesting and moving trip, and we were very lucky to have been there to witness its opening by the new president Anni. So much hard work and dedication went into the project and the same for the celebrations. The people were welcoming and joyful at the gift they received. It must have been really rewarding for all involved, very inspiring indeed.
We also met some lovely people, notably Kevin the kiwi from the red cross, Paul Roberts ( the presidents euro press secretary ) and the new president himself, a very grounded and friendly man who seemed to have his peoples best interests at heart. I hope it all works out for him, as he was a political prisoner of the former president who ran his country into the ground with corruption and extortion.
thanks to everyone we met, it will always be a special memory for me, I’d love to be able to return one day, and Anni may be about to make it possible by opening his country to budget travellers and not just the filthy rich.
to nick how are you i took your photo of the blue city in to school for my India project they loved it I am the only boy with an uncle in India how cool is that – love matt
Hi Matt,
that is pretty cool isn’t it. I’m glad the photo came in useful for school and everyone liked it. We are now getting a sleeper train to Hampi to look at temples and then we go to Hyderbad, which is one of the IT ( computer ) capitals of India. I am writing to you from Bangalore. See if you can find all those places on a map.
Love Uncle Nick
Hello,
may I ask, how did you get from the Maldives from Trivandrum? Plane? What did that run?
Thanks!
Hi, yes we flew, i honestly can’t remember which company, but it did arrive very early and we had to sleep in the airport for a few hours, not so comfortable. A quick bit of googling should find you a carrier.