Best of the Maldives: Book Tuk Tuk – Soneva Fushi

Soneva Fushi - book Tuk Tuk

Bringing a carefully selected range of books to your remote paradise isn’t enough for Soneva Fushi as now the latest “barefoot bookseller” Georgie Polhill will bring a selection of books straight to your villa with her own custom tuk tuk:

  • “Soneva Fushi has welcomed the Maldives’ first Book Tuk Tuk to the shores of the Baa Atoll to bring the expertise of the Barefoot Bookseller and the joy of reading straight to guests, wherever they are on the island. From any of the resort’s multiple dining destinations to the comfort of an in-villa sun lounger, guests can call their Barefoot Butlers and have the Book Tuk Tuk brought straight to their door.”

Uber Books!

 

Best of the Maldives: Kids VR – Soneva Fushi

Soneva Jani - kids VR

If you can’t get the people to paradise, bring paradise to the people. COVID’s travel restrictions spurred the development and adoption of many innovations to bridge the new distances imposed between us. Soneva Fushi introduced the especially immersive (and high tech) virtual reality electronic escape:

  • “Soneva Fushi, the original barefoot luxury resort in the Maldives, has an exclusive Virtual Reality (VR) experience to overcome restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This experience brings an enchanting insight into island life into viewers’ homes. A curated experience with discovery at its heart, the VR series shares Soneva’s SLOW LIFE ethos and champions the beautiful Maldives archipelago as a bucket-list destination.”

Best of the Maldives: Waste Art – Soneva Fushi

Soneva Fushi - waste art

One person’s trash is another’s person’s treasure, but Soneva Fushi’sMaker Place” works to turn all their trash into everyone’s treasure:

  • “Soneva Fushi, the Maldives’ original barefoot luxury resort, has revealed a ground-breaking new addition to its portfolio of sustainable innovations. Makers’ Place is a fully carbon-neutral island studio that recycles waste plastic and aluminum into works of art, as well as practical objects and building materials. The Makers’ Place studio was built in collaboration with British artist Alexander James Hamilton, an advocate for sustainability and founder of the Distil Ennui Studio™, whose practice spans sculpture, painting, photography, film, lighting and installation.”

One of the advantages of their rustic chic aesthetic is that adapting bits and bobs of all types works in easily.

Best of the Maldives: TEDx – Soneva Fushi

Soneva Fushi - TEDxBaaAtoll

Resorts have long offered presentations to their guests often on marine biology and sometimes on Maldivian culture, and some have extended these to featured guest presenters on topics as diverse as cuisine and wellness. Soneva Fushi features a distinctively rich slate of guest artists and authorities. It’s website presently features 36 upcoming special guests! But it has hit a new high water mark producing the first event TEDx event in the Maldives.

TED is the now famous conference on “Technology, Entertainment, Design” renowned for exceptionally high quality presentations (all strictly limited to 18 minutes) by some of the most renowned and talented experts and speakers in the world. The TEDx events are smaller conferences run around the world “organized by passionate individuals who seek to uncover new ideas and to share the latest research in their local areas that spark conversations in their communities.”

TEDxBaaAtoll could also be TED’s first ever TED event on a beach! Certainly first on loungers. Titled “TEDxBaaAtoll: SLOW LIFE” . “SLOW LIFE” is Soneva’s acronymic mission statement described by them as our core purpose and stands for Sustainable – Local – Organic – Wellness Learning – Inspiring – Fun – Experiences…It is about reconnecting with oneself and the natural world.” The event synopsis describes the event as…:

  • focusing on ways to find a deeper purpose beyond the superficial: reconnecting with the earth to live in harmony with the natural environment; working hand-in-hand with communities to make the world a better place; and nurturing our physical and mental wellbeing to be the very best we can be

Here was the line-up of special speakers and subjects:

  • Aishath Adnan – “I saw none, so I built one: women in the tech community”: An active advocate for women in tech, she also co-founded the non-profit organisation Women in Tech Maldives.
  • Aki Allahgholi – “Time for Corals”: founded Coralive.org in 2016 to fully serve an eco-minded holistic approach to restore and protect a healthy ocean. He described the pragmatic approach to reef regeneration of experimenting in many ways and see what works.
  • Akib Jahir – “Zero Mosquito, Zero Fogging”: Passionate entomologist, avid mosquito hunter pioneering the way towards an integrated method sustainable mosquito management. Described a mosquito trap to 113k mosquitos in the first month. Only 5% of food supply to predators (birds, bats, dragonflies) who eat them.
  • Bruce Bromley – “Why every CFO should also be Chief Sustainability Officer” – Trustee for the Soneva Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation focused on mitigating the impacts of climate charge. Makes coherent argument that a good CFO is focused on “resource allocation” to build value for the future so that a sustainability mindset drive understanding, appreciating, and investing in all resources – financial, natural, human, social. I particularly applauded his exhortation to shift from thinking of “waste” as a “bye-product” [sic] to “waste as an asset” (and Soneva has been pioneering in this area with extensive recycling initiatives.
  • Carissa Nimah – “Do Job Titles Matter”: Worked for some of the world’s top luxury brands, and is personally motivated by creativity, purpose and ethical business. “Corporate and conventional job titles have lost their meaning in today’s work places.” Couldn’t agree more. My reports would ask me what their title was and I often responded that they could call themselves the “Grand Poobah of Whatever” as far as I was concerned.
  • Hussain ‘Sendi’ Rasheed – “Why Seaweed is not a weed” – Region’s first ever PADI-certified Course Director, he also pioneered many of the country’s diving standards, and is researching the benefits of using the ocean’s resources sustainably through his farming. A local diving veteran who shared his perspectives from over three decades of exploring the Maldives reefs.
  • Malsa Maaz – “The human story behind the glass cabinet”: Cultural anthropologist passionate about Maldivian culture exploring the coconut culture of the Maldives. “Coconut is our national tree. The tree of life…What can you do with a coconut tree? Everything.” Also, brilliant trivia question fun fact: Dhivehi is one of the only languages in the world that doesn’t have a word for “city”, “village” or “town” (but there is a word for every single part of the coconut tree and every part of the coconut fruit). A great sales pitch for “Cultural Anthropology” – “It is an amazing feeling to know who you are. It is an amazing feeling to know where you come from.”
  • Saazu Saeed – “Nothing else matters but the Ocean”: Advocate for ocean conservation and women in surfing. A colourfully immersive depiction of the feeling of the water.
  • Yala Shameem – “The future of school”: Youth activist for environmental conservation and the phasing out of single-use plastics.

Best of the Maldives: Culinary Zip Line – Soneva Fushi

Soneva Fushi takes a great concept, takes it just that little bit further, and makes it their own. (thanks Paola) I’ve long been waiting for a zip line in the Maldives. So guests could fly across the canopy. But instead of “Flying Foxes”, they present “Flying Sauces”:

  • “We’re delighted to introduce Flying Sauces, our exhilarating new culinary concept at Soneva Fushi. This first-of-its-kind dining destination is set to become a true bucketlist experience for gastronomes and thrill-seekers alike, combining the adrenaline-fuelled excitement of a zipline with an exquisite gourmet menu. The 200-metre zipline route glides through the leafy jungle from The Den to our treetop dining platform, which towers 12 metres above the ground and commands spectacular views across the ocean. Serving breakfast, high tea and dinner with optional wine pairing, Chef Rasal’s seasonal menu is inspired by our idyllic island setting, with dishes crafted from organic ingredients freshly picked from our gardens or caught by local fisherman in our nearby waters.”

Best of the Maldives: Largest Coral Regeneration – Soneva Fushi

Soneva - reef regeneration

The big focus for Soneva Fushi’s marine biologists is big indeed…the world largest coral nursery:

  • Partnership with Coralive and Ark2030 aims to propagate 50,000 coral fragments every year. Soneva has launched an ambitious programme to restore coral reef systems and create a coral hub for the Maldives. A partnership between the Soneva Foundation, the Swiss environmental organisation Coralive and the global ecosystem restoration organisation Ark2030, the project aims to protect and regenerate this vital marine habitat, which has been decimated by rising sea temperatures, ocean acidification, El Niño events and ocean pollution…’When finished, the coral farm at Soneva Fushi will be 1 hectare in size – one of the largest coral farms in the world – and in the ensuing years it is our goal to cultivate 1 hectare of coral each year at each of our resorts. This is the scale that is needed to have a meaningful impact and it also represents a huge opportunity for the Maldives to become a global leader in an activity that will likely have considerable future demand,’ said Sonu Shivdasani, CEO and Co-Founder of Soneva’.”

  

Best of the Maldives: Wood Ends – Soneva Fushi

Soneva Fushi - wodd ends 2

Soneva Fushi has pioneered the design style of Swiss Family Robinson chic in the Maldives, but perhaps the acme of this arboreal aesthetic is its Villa 37. While the rough trunks are standard elements throughout Soneva, Villa 37 take the timber to a new dimension with a tapestry of cross sections forming the ceiling and various highlights.

Soneva Fushi - wood ends 3

Soneva Fushi - wood ends 1

The World is On Our Doorstep

Save Something kitten

Earth Day today is traditionally a time to reflect on how humanity can save the planet, though it takes on a whole new perspective during this era of COVID19. Internet memes abound joking that the coronavirus is the planet’s way of scolding humanity and sending it to its bedroom as punishment with the admonition, “Now go away and think about what you have done.”

The pandemic underscores poignantly and painfully how interconnected we are in the modern world. How my respiratory survival is dependent on others changing their behaviours. How my toilet paper supply is dependent on global supply chains.

I had saved the post below from our daughter Isley especially for Earth Day given its theme of saving things including the planet. It was penned after we got together this past year and she was reflecting on her secondment at Soneva Fushi and Rihiveli working on a number of Maldivian writing projects.

The piece reminded me of the starfish parable…

  • “One day, an old man was walking along a beach that was littered with thousands of starfish that had been washed ashore by the high tide. As he walked he came upon a young boy who was eagerly throwing the starfish back into the ocean, one by one. Puzzled, the man looked at the boy and asked what he was doing. Without looking up from his task, the boy simply replied, ‘I’m saving these starfish, Sir’. The old man chuckled aloud, ‘Son, there are thousands of starfish and only one of you. What difference can you make?’ The boy picked up a starfish, gently tossed it into the water and turning to the man, said, ‘I made a difference to that one!’”

We can all matter to individual starfish, one-legged birds and kittens. And if we do, the whole planet can matter to all of humanity.

HOW TO SAVE SOMETHING

I wrote the poem “Today I Was a Starfish” during a short writing residency at Soneva Fushi. It’s two true stories in one: Soneva had a Precious Plastics initiative where inventors worked to recycle plastics in artful and purposeful new ways. Soneva also engages seriously with sustainability, saving and reusing wherever possible so it seemed right that I write a poem responding to this part of who they are. I also watched that little kid cry her eyes out over an ice cream, and laughed before realising that she was right: the ready appearance of another ice cream doesn’t erase the loss of the one she held in her hands.

This was back in 2018. I went from Soneva Fushi to Rihiveli, which had its own collection of stories about the importance of saving. Their icon is a beautiful white bird called Juliette, who ended up on the island after the 2004 tsunami, and was cared for by the humans there. She now doesn’t fly, but hangs around on one leg (incidentally at Soneva Fushi there was also a one legged bird who would visit at mealtimes, called affectionately Onelego). Another example of this spirit of care was its reopening as Rihiveli The Dream, when to stop the island from closing it was bought by a collection of guests and run in a way which preserved the staff and style of the island they knew well.

It was while I was at Rihiveli that I was asked by the London Theatre Consortium to attend a residential climate lab when I returned to the UK. I had no idea how many overlaps I would find during my time on that lab to what I had seen in the Maldives: most obviously, the science and history behind the climate catastrophe we face, and that the Maldives is at the knife edge of in so many ways.

But also, the Maldives became emblematic for the key revelation I had during my time at the lab, which has to do with structural and systemic barriers to addressing climate change, and found metaphorical manifestation in a little stray kitten…

On our penultimate day in the Maldives, in Hulhumalé, a tiny kitten greeted us as we had breakfast. We had plans to explore the island and snorkel, but they were abandoned to take care of this flea-ridden little beast with the wonky jaw and seriously cuddly cuteness. We gave her some egg and cleaned her when she toileted and held her in our laps while we picked fleas off her one by one, trapping them in selotape that we borrowed from the hotel reception. There are many stray cats in parts of the Maldives, cared for ad hoc by the working community. But this one was in my lap. She couldn’t chew properly. She didn’t seem to be able to poop. She fell asleep on my hand. We named her Dhaya. I needed to save her.

After realising that it would be impossible to process the paperwork in time to take her to the UK with me, I looked into getting her to a vet while we were still in the country. But the thing is there are ZERO vets in the Maldives. None. Not one. There is one man in Indonesia who makes a trip every six months to look over the pets of the residents, and everyone essentially crowdfunds his trip and tries to get their pet seen during his brief visit. We made a friend in Sujon, who worked in the hotel we were staying at – a fellow animal lover, he said he would keep Dhaya in his apartment and take care of her for us, until we could get the vet to see to her, which I could organise from the UK. I felt good knowing she had a home, and that it might not mean sending her all the way to the UK to keep her happy and safe. But that evening Dhaya took a turn for the worse. We could sort of diagnose the problem using the internet, and the treatment was straightforward, for a vet. But we didn’t have a vet. Or medicine. Or expertise. And she died.

The kitten was saveable. We all wanted to save it. But without a vet, we couldn’t.

The planet is saveable. We all do want to save it, even if we disagree about how. But without systems in place and upheld by governments, organisations, businesses etc, we’ll fail. We cannot crowdfund the climate revolution.

Yes we have to work as individuals – the child needs to not drop the ice cream. And yes we need to be grassroots in our approach to change – so much has been achieved by the Rihiveli community, contributing and sharing and organising in whatever way they can personally to achieve a collective aim. But those energies need to be focused upwards, at those with more power and resources to affect serious change. But as always, those with least resources and the least power are expected to do the most. Yes, me offsetting my air travel is good, but not as good as that being a responsibility of the airlines themselves.

This is what I learned at the climate lab, and at Rihiveli, and from Precious Plastics, and from the kitten.

I’m writing this over a year later now, after Greta Thunberg has proved that an individual (herself someone with significant clout, and inspired by activists before her) can at least influence others, and begin the change systemically. Extinction Rebellion sees many individuals coming together to encourage change and enact it within their reach, putting pressure on larger bodies to recognise their voice. Veganuary proves to be a huge commercial incentive for corporations and companies to be part of the change. And there’s a stray cat with mange that sleeps in my neighbour’s shed that I’m trying to trap and treat. They remind me of Dhaya. Which makes me realise a final thing:

It’s not wrong to want to help the kitten on your doorstep. But the world has been getting smaller for a long time now, and this story of international travel and relationships and communities is proof of that. And the fact is, the world is – and always was – on our doorstep. What we strive to make better in our own worlds impacts the worlds outside of our own, culturally but also ecologically. My choices have ripples that widen and deepen a very long way away. But I also need to think not just about this kitten that I can see the shed, but about all the kittens. But again – at risk of sounding like that Debbie… I can’t help every cat. No one can.

I’m tying myself in knots here a bit now, because there’s no clear right way to fix this. The macro is the micro and vice versa / people power is real power but the real power is systemic / the cat I see suffering is not more or less special than any other suffering animal, or suffering person, and yet I can and should care for them specially.

As I sit in my car on my road, watching the trap I’ve laid for this latest rescue mission, hoping the mangy street cat won’t see me watching, will take the bait, and surrender himself to my care, I think: there are lots of ways to save things. None of them are perfect, convenient, comfortable, or ideal for everyone. But at least there are lots of them. This is one of the ways I can try and save things. And another is demanding that those who can do more do do more. If the infrastructure had been in place, Dhaya would be alive. So I’m going to keep saving the little kittens, but now I know to do that by challenging the fat cats.

Save something bird

Planet time out

Best of the Maldives: Marine Discovery Experience – Soneva Fushi

Soneva Fushi - submarine

For the ultimate undersea adventure Soneva Fushi has partnered with Nekton for a dive of a lifetime:

· “The highest bidder will travel to the Maldives and board Nekton’s manned submersible alongside Victor Vescovo, diving down to 3,000 meters below sea level where biodiversity peaks to visit an unexplored seamount in the Indian Ocean’s Midnight Zone.”

The experience also includes stays at some of the world’s most exclusive luxury resorts, including Soneva Fushi, the opportunity to conduct a live deep-sea broadcast, and the chance to help create the first maps of uncharted seamounts. The highest bidder (which starts at $125,000) will also receive a documentary film detailing the entire journey. For glimpse of the celebrity guide himself, Victor Vescovo, check out his TED talk below. [NOTE: I suspect that this experience will be postponed with the COVI19 lock-down]

Best of the Maldives: Poetry – Soneva Fushi

Soneva Fushi - poetry 1

Poetry Day today. Just the time to share some inspired creativity from fellow Maldives veteran, in fact someone who has accompanied me from the very beginning of my Maldives odyssey – our daughter Isley. She has become a proper writer of note penning plays that have been playing to sold out theatres in London and the UK for several years. She has been working on a special film project (stay tuned) set in the Maldives itself and was invited by Soneva Fushi as an artist in residence to support her venture (the story is set quite near the Soneva island) as well as to provide a number of presentations to guests during her stay. While there, the tropical paradise and the inspiring atmosphere of Soneva prompted some side compositions which I saved till today to share:

SONEVA FUSHI

An eco symphony
White sand, clear sea
Hot sun, cool breeze
Blue sky, green trees
And hosts like family
Who truly care personally, communally, and globally
Soneva Fushi
Luxury
Sustainably


TODAY I WAS A STARFISH

today i was a starfish
on the beach
akimbo
flat and still
as the tide came in
and washed my body
back to the sea
reclaimed me
as the animal i had forgotten to be
but when the light turned the water from glass to rock
i stood
now dressed in grit and salt
and was lost on land
back home
i tried again to be a starfish
i took off my shoes (leather)
which now felt sharp
lay down on pillows (full of feathers)
and with pain in my heart
remembered the sand
and thought:
what a grossly lucky animal i am


RAIN

it seems
the sky
is furious
but no
it is
in fact
delirious
with her unbridled love for us
so turbulent
so serious
that she pours out her feeling, fierce
and full
blanketing the island thus
to still the jungle to a hush
her tenderness so bounteous
that afterwards
the blossoms all peek out at us
wondrous
at a love
so luxurious
that to drown
would be glorious


‘THIS ONE’

I saw it happen before it happened
the jaunty angle of the bowl
the ice cream melting out
the four year old fingers
and then the tears
when it was all lost to the ground
her brother’s little “uhoh” would not suffice
nor did her mother’s reassurances
and how could they
of course there was another one coming
but the child mourned this one
she was right to
I just didn’t know why
at the time
but later
at the maker’s space
I snipped dirty plastic for hours
the tiny pieces needed for a new machine to transform old bottle caps into things of use
and beauty
and when my hands shook from gripping the tools
I felt like the wobbly child
and when a piece pinged away from me
I felt the shock of the child
and as I laughed with the dutch folks who’s scheme this was
I saw in them the child
because of course there’s another one coming
and another
and another
and another
which is why we must all make haste
to be more like the child
and sob more over waste

Soneva Fushi - poetry 2
Soneva recylcing