Ropes courses are a classic team building activity in the corporate world, and for those budding executives, Ritz Carlton Maldives’ “Ritz Kids Club” offers and indoor and outdoor net-protected rope climbing (and clambering) frame. With the number of these “Climbing” features going higher and higher, I’ve added a tag for them with this post.
For all the budding young Gladiators looking to burn all the excess energy of from the excitement of arriving in paradise, Emerald’s Dolphin Kids Club offers a fun obstacle course to scamper through for hours on end so when Mom and Dad pick them up they are all spent and ready to sit calmly during cocktail hour.
It takes more than a leap to get to the top of the coconut tree, but instead traditional climbing as featured by Fushifaru’s Coconut Climbing Competition. Maldives Insider reported…
Prizes included a cash award for first and free nights at Fushifaru for second and third.
Top stuff!
Talk Like A Pirate Day! Maybe one of the best celebrations on the calendar of esoteric days. The remote tropical patches of sand that are the Maldives are something out of a Robert Lewis Stevenson novel. And there is no bigger pirate treasure for active apprentice pirates than Kandima’s towering galleon at its “Kandiland” kids club. The clipper ship complex comes complete with sun-screen netting, water cannons as well as a rabbit warren of climbing walls and slides.
Shiver me timbers!
For a bit more protection in scaling those heights, Hideaway Beach’s Tender Hearts Kids Club has a superb ball crawl with netting surround and, of course, a pool of colourful balls below.
I love pint sized versions of things. One of my favourite websites is Minimus.biz (at one point I was going to open up a European branch of Minimus). The Maldives itself is pretty much made up of pint-sized versions of islands. And, since the outset, I’ve always felt that the appeal of the destination for families with children was always unsung.
I was especially enchanted by Canareef’s mini climbing wall for the smallest tykes t the kids club. Too often the “big” kids get all the cool, adventure toys, while the little ones are stuck with colouring books. This wall is just right for the tiniest alpinists. And at over a meter high (!), they can boast having scaled the highest point on the island.
If you need a little help with your leaping, then I recommend a visit to Hideaway Beach’s new water park. In fact, it looks like one of the best places to leap in the entire Maldives. Water trampoline, water slide, water bounce cushion, water climbing walls…
“Consisting of six inflatables such as a trampoline, slide, balance bar, linked by floating pontoons, this will be open daily and is free of charge to all of our guests (both little and grown up!). “
It even includes the Inflatable Body Launcher I called for in “Haven’t Seen Yet in the Maldives – Part 6”.
Geronimo!
Arbor Day today celebrates those those towering stoics of landscape flora. Actually, Arbor Days have proliferated around the world (celebrated in over 40 countries on different days of the year) indicating how pervasive the world’s appreciation for trees is. But the first Arbor Day was today in1872.
You can sit under them, look up and admire them, and climb them. But at the Dusit Thani kids club, you can play in them. The “Baan Sanook” features an extended treehouse complete with walkway and Maldivian palm thatch.
The feature echoes the Dusit’s Swiss Family Robinson chic of its Devarana Spa which is also elevated to the treetops.
Hug a tree today.
If you prefer amore adventurous route to your towering view, then you need to check out One and Only Reethi Rah’s climbing wall.
“Extreme Engineering, the largest supplier of zip lines, climbing walls, Extreme Airs™ and adventure products in the world, has installed the 1st climbing wall in the Maldives at One&Only Reethi Rah!..The new climbing wall is a key feature at the resort, providing guests with high-action entertainment. The resort is equipped with the Monolith Stationary 5-Climber, a 26 feet tall (7.9 meters) climbing surface. The Monolith Stationary 5-Climber has 5 distinct climbing routes, one with over a 2 foot overhang! Each route will provide a unique, challenging climbing experience. The climbing hold placements can be reconfigured to provide endless combinations on the climbing wall. The route possibilities are very diverse! The very same wall has been used by ESPN for the X-Games’ climbing competition. This model has also been used by the USA Climbing team. The climbing wall comes fully equipped with the patented, Auto-belay systems (the safest patented automatic belay devices on the market). The Auto-belay is a mechanical device (no power required) that keeps climbers safe and secure at all times. The Auto-belay removes the need of a belayer at the bottom of the wall during use. Just click into the carabiner with your climbing harness and you can head straight to the top! The fully redundant system is the safest on the market and the primary choice for climbing wall use. The Extreme Engineering climbing wall is accessible to anyone above 6 years old (minimum weight 45lbs. / 20.5kg and maximum 250lbs. / 113kg).”
The pinnacle of paradise.
For a more natural hang-out over water, take stroll down “Climbing Tree Alley” at Vilamendhoo. The nearly horizontal palm trees are nearly as iconic a shot of paradise as the sunsets and the turquoise lagoons. The palms start to grow this way by the water’s edge when erosion undermines the stability of their root system and on the water’s side and the start to gently tilt and eventually grow in that direction. You will find such orthogonal specimens across the Maldives, but Vilamendhoo has a particularly extended stretch of them along the northeast side which they have named after many people’s favourite activity on these arboreal jungle gyms.
