You know what they say about adversity and opportunity – when one door closes, another one opens. And when this door at Soneva Fushi opens, it also closes on its own. With one of the most eco-friendly mechanisms ever devised straight from Gilligan’s Island – the coconut counterweight. No worries about closing the door behind you (that goes especially for you 2016!).
Soneva Fushi’s world-class Den kids club features not just kiddie “cocktails”, but a class to let them ply their mixological mocktail mastery…
“The children attend a session at Ess, where they creativity is tested. The bar staff attempt to inspire the children showing them different ways to produce delicious mocktails, before the children are let loose to create they very own, including naming their cocktail. Each cocktail is scored and each child receives a certificate for all their creativity.”
A toast to children everywhere today on International Children’s Day!
After coconut cups and tree houses, the next most iconic part of the deserted island fable is…the log raft. Now, not many Maldives guests would really want to escape their tropical paradise, but to live out the Swiss Family Robinson fantasy to the fullest, Soneva Fushi offers raft making as an activity in their The Den kids club…
Raft-making is more than a Castaway knock-off. It was a common “team building” challenge on corporate offsites that I’ve attended for years. It combines a very measurable objective (staying afloat) with mild consequences for failure (getting wet). An activity that The Professor from Gilligan’s Island would have benefitted from in his youth. As the old joke goes, “The Professor could make a nuclear reactor out of two coconuts, but couldn’t fix a hole in a boat.”
I’ve introduced a new tag “Swiss Family Robinson” for those desert-island chic features which evoke this classic film. Admittedly, the category is dominated by Soneva.
On the heels of all that pirate talk, I just had to do another post on Soneva Fushi’s kids club which has its very own pirate ship inside (see photo below). My feature of the day capture’s the “The Den’s” Alice in Wonderland fantastical quality with its nested front doors (photo above) inviting you into a Lewis Carrol world of wonder and amusement.
“Curiouser and curiouser!”
Extracting the very essence of the magic coconut fruit is so easy a child could do it. In fact. at Soneva Fushi, children do do it at the resort’s exquisite summer camp programme…
“We head to the spa, where the spa therapist will help the children make fresh coconut oil using coconuts of the island, the children are given the opportunity to take part in all aspects of making the oil.”
Sounds a bit better than the “bug juice” and frigid lake swims when I went to Camp Belknap as a child. If you want to give it a go at home, I’ve found a pretty handy video guide above.
Soneva Fushi’s “let it grow” libations are its homemade palm wine. The photo above shows the vine-strapped ladder steps attached to a palm tree where a Maldivian climbs to access tap the sap (let it flow) from the palm flower. The entire process is done in traditional dress and with traditional techniques and then fermented on the resort.
Two global events this week nourish the appreciation of food itself especially in the Maldives. I’m not talking about savouring fine gourmet delectables, but simply appreciating the very basics we consume every day. World Environment Day this past weekend promotes a healthy planet which sustains our food supply. Too many food industry practices – from clear cutting rain forests for grazing land to indiscriminate marine life casualties of fishing practices like drift nets – spoil the very Earth that sustains us. And coincidentally, the month of Ramadan starts this week. Where cutting back on food all day (building one’s appreciation for it) it central to the celebration.
One of the biggest environmental issues with food is waste. It affects both the production (making more than we need) and the consumption (disposing of the waste we don’t use). And the resort who is actively addressing this big issue in sustainable food consumption is Soneva Fushi. Soneva recently conducted a comprehensive food audit to underpin changes in their operations to minimise food waste…
Waste not, want not.
World Recycling Day today. Most resorts are recycling the basics these days – glass, paper, plastic, food waste. Others like Kurumba, have introduced more ambitious efforts to be “refuse neutral”. One of the eco-leaders is Soneva Fushi and their eco-charcoal facility. Charcoal for cooking and BBQs is produced out of waste wood from landscaping and construction. In fact, they produce so much that they sell it to other islands.
Most Maldives visitors coming from Europe have to take the red-eye overnight long haul flights. Unless you are reclined in First Class, these flights are exhausting and you often want to collapse when you arrive. If you have to then take a seaplane transfer you are often waiting a little while at the seaplane terminal. To take the sting out of these first moments in paradise, the luxury 5-star resorts have set up special welcome lounges with extra comforts and service.
But for sheer comfort, no lounge beat Soneva Fushi’s. Not only are their settee colourful, but they a big and broad. One family that was there with us had their kids laid out napping (and Dad joining them in an ultra-reclined state).
And if those loungers aren’t comfortable enough for you, then might I suggest that seating doesn’t get much more comfortable than their massage chair that they also feature for that extra bit of en route relaxation.
Earth Day today inspires people to save the Earth, but Soneva Fushi is not only saving Earth making even more. Earth that is. Their industrial scale composting operation produces acres of compost soil which it then uses around the island for its gardening. Just another facet of Soneva’s sustainability immersion.
