The outdoor net hamocks, “jolai”, are quite common in Maldives resorts, but . Oaga has the most colourful versions I have had the pleasure to lounge in (see below). And the indoor traditional seating platforms I have never even seen before (see above). They have one in every villa for people to chill, maybe play a board game, etc.
Eskimos (Sami) have between 180-300 words for “snow” and “ice”. In the sunnier climes of the Maldives with its swaying palm trees, it’s the coconuts that have all the words. In Dhivehi, the Maldivian language, there are indeed twelve distinct words for the different stages of a coconut’s life cycle:
Each stage has its own unique characteristics and uses in Maldivian cuisine and culture.
One of the blog features has been a dive into the colourful linguistic tapestry of this exotic land (and sea). The resort database includes a field for the Dhivehi meaning of all the resort names as well. So I especially enjoyed this piece in the Maldive Independent – “What’s in a name: Maldives throughout millennia” – which explored the etymology of the name “Maldives” itself as well as a variety of other monikers it had through the centuries:
Happy staff make happy customers and I applaud a range of efforts by resorts to make the staff area as appealing as the rest of the island. Oaga invests so much into making its staff area and restaurant top notch that it is completely open to guests who are welcome to eat there with the staff if they like. They call it their “Open Community” concept. They take as much pride in the staff chef Aboo (see photo below) as they do any of chefs at their guest F&B outlets. Lori and I had a delightful lunch and were very welcomed by the staff taking their own midday refreshment there.
With the post, I’ve added the new tag of “Staff Area”.
It’s great to have expansive floor-to-ceiling windows to bring as much of the outdoor paradise into your villa, but with most beaches being open to all, you then become a bit of a fishbowl to the guests passing by. You had to decide whether to opt for view or privacy with your curtains.
Oaga has provided the ideal best-of-both solution with reflective glass on their villa windows allowing you to look out and no one else to look in. The glass also reduces the glare and heat from the glasshouse windows into your villa. And if you want to get a front and back bathing suit shot for Instagram, you can do that too.
I’ve long been a fan of local artists providing the colour and panache to the Maldives resorts. The local artist community is thriving in recent years with more and more properties embracing their inspired work. But Oaga has gone well beyond just commissioning some lovely pieces to hang on the villa walls, and has set loose an platoon of palette wielders to provide every nook and cranny of the island with vibrant designs and decoration in the form of dramatic and gigantic murals.
I’ve already shared Oaga’s pool mural. The rooms have murals especially the Bodu Haruge Beach Villas with Private Pool have their own special storied behind them:
Here is a sampling of the many I came across during our stay…
When I say “Island-Made”, I don’t mean made on “an” island in the Maldives…I mean made on *the* resort island. Not just a lot of it…all of it. The classic Nika property was one of the first resorts in the Maldives and was constructed entirely in the traditional manner of using coral stone for the material. Various heritage displays are replete with thatched structures, but actually more common are using the rock formed of old coral.
And Nika didn’t stop there. Hotel Insider article “Nika Island Resort – championing local heritage” describes how the resort furniture was all hand-crafted by local artisans:
Many resorts will have a special hard-surface courts for various sports, but Heritance Aarah has the full quadfecta of tennis, badminton/paddle tennis, volleyball and football.
In many destinations around the world, “all-inclusive” has a sort of down-market perception of value pricing, but in the luxury-packed Maldives, even the most exclusive properties have AI offerings (primarily for customer convenience, not budgeting). As a result, there is a bit of an arms race of packing in the most features to each resort’s AI, but Oaga has thrown everything including the kitchen sink if there was an experience you could have with the kitchen sink:
Conventional
Special Experiences
None of the Maldives resort islands have cars primarily because there is no room for roads. But what does have room is the expansive ocean surrounding them all. Sun Siyam World and Sun Siyam Olhuveli have made that their own speedway for the latest watersport thrill ride in the Maldives:
