Days 82-83: Relaxing In The Maldives
As we are spending two days in Male, the capital city of the Maldives, Allison and I thought it would be a great opportunity to get off the boat and enjoy even more luxury. As background, another of my dreams as a 15-year-old was to spend a night in a straw over-the-water bungalow in some exotic location. We actually have 6 days booked in Moorea for September of this year, but when the chance came along to get a preview at the amazing Taj Exotica Resort – we took it. More on the resort in a bit, but first, the required history and geography lesson.
The Maldives are a chain of islands that stretch 540 miles, spanning the equator.
Technically, there are 26 atolls and 1,192 coral islands. A coral island is exactly that – a low island formed from coral and other debris. While an atoll is a ring-shaped island, mostly of rock and of volcanic origin. The island chain forms a shallow barrier between part of the Eastern and Western Indian Ocean and is only transit-navigable through two channels in the south. The average elevation of Maldives is 5 feet, with a highest natural elevation of 8 feet – making it the world’s lowest-lying country. A good reason why they are at the forefront of the Global Warming campaign to force large industrialized countries to curb their carbon emissions.
The island chain has been inhabited for over 2,500 years and was first noticed by the “outside world” when Arab traders started visiting in 947 AD. The traders brought Islam with them, replacing Buddhism, and a sultanate was established in the 12th Century. After the mid-16th century, the standard European powers took notice, with the Portuguese, Dutch, and then Brits claiming sovereignty. This lasted until 1965, when the Maldives was granted independence and elections were held. Parliament voted in 1967 to convert from a constitutional monarchy to a republic, which was confirmed by over 90% of the population in 1968.
This opened the door for tourism, disrupted by numerous nasty coup attempts (1980, 1983, and 1988). That final coup attempt resulted in 1,600 Indian troops arriving via airlift to restore order. Everything settled down after that until the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004. It destroyed 6 islands, caused 14 to be totally evacuated, and seriously damaged a further 57. The tallest waves were 14 feet high, and if you were paying attention earlier – that’s almost double the highest elevation of any island!! Politically, the last 20 years have also been turbulent, with the local politicians alternately switching allegiance from India to China and back. The current regime favours China, and you can see much of the resultant investment from that decision.
Meanwhile – we ignored all that and spent 24 hours of pampering at the resort. It was truly magnificent. You can see some photos of the bungalow below. My absolute highlight was waking up early in the morning to go snorkeling in the lagoon and then realizing we didn’t need to do that. Instead, we stood drinking tea in our plunge pool and watched sand sharks, stingrays, and fish go by us, with a few leaping dolphins out by the reef as a bonus.
Luxury!
Comments
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment (and let us know who you are!!)