Best of the Maldives: Protected Marine Areas – Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu

Baa Atoll Marine Protected Areas

In the spirit of World Oceans Day, the Maldives established a record number of protected marine areas last week in what many consider to be the most spectacular atoll in the Maldives, Baa. The map above links through to the UNESCO map of the areas.

The first 5 areas are in a string right across the centre of the atoll, and at the eastern edge is Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu. In fact, Dhuni Kolhu is right next to Hanifaru Reef, the closest any resort is to a protected area.

Best of the Maldives: World Oceans Day – Kuramathi

Kuramathi World Oceans Day

 

Happy World Oceans Day!

The entire country of the Maldives is celebrating this event including several special activities in various resorts. But the resort that has pulled out the stops is Kuramathi. They are featuring a special complementary dive, an underwater photography competition, and reef clean up. The event is being sponsored by the resort’s recently inaugurated Eco Center as a part of its overall green strategy.

Best of the Maldives Online: Reef Regeneration – Seamarc

Gapingvoid Hugh MacLeod Earth Day 2011

Happy Earth Day 2011!

Maldives have always been on the vanguard of promoting the thoughtful stewardship of the planet. In the spirit of the day, I thought I would highlight Seamarc who has been pioneering ‘reefscaping’ and ‘coral regeneration’ projects across the Maldives. Resorts using their reef grafting frames include Kandooma, Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru, Beach House at Manafaru, Island Hideaway at Dhonakulhi, Reethi Rah, and Four Seasons Kuda Huraa,

“Seamarc’s unique propagation techniques; whereby broken or threatened corals are harvested, attached to portable Coral Trays and put back into the warm Maldivian waters, mean that branching corals grow faster, rapidly creating new and replenishing old habitats. The project also provides alternative employment to residents of nearby B. Fulhadhoo Island who build the structures.”

The illustration above comes from my friend and social media pioneer Hugh MacLeod. I especially like his tagline about ‘changing lives’. The more we do that for the better, the easier it will be to get everyone to agree to some difficult decisions to take care of our planet.

Best of the Maldives: Aquatic Topiary – Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru

Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru coral garden Yin-Yang

While the ‘house reef’ is the ‘main event’ in snorkelling, lagoon snorkelling can be its own treat. During our first, uninitiated trip to the Maldives, we spent nearly the whole week there delightedly snorkelling among the modest coral and rock croppings in the shallow, sandy lagoon. We didn’t even know that there was such a thing as a ‘drop off’. We still enjoy the charms of lagoon snorkelling with some real highlights in our history – a playful octopus, a digging sting ray, a passing manta, and a whole host of turtles and fish.

If you can’t get the snorkelers to the reef, bring the reef to the snorkelers. Often the main problem with house reefs are their accessibility. Eventually, you can get to a drop off point, but you have swim over long expanses of relatively boring white sand. So as a part of its award winning reef regeneration efforts, Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru has taken a creative twist on reefs with what can best be described as ‘reef topiary’.

Its showcase piece is the Yin-Yang Coral Garden pictured above. From an aerial view, the coral forms a yin-and-yang symbol. The resort is now planning an encore with a ‘Crescent Moon’ in the works.

Best of the Maldives: Eco Education – Kuramathi

Tui International Environmental Award Kuramathi Tui

Reef protection is big and getting bigger in the Maldives. The latest tip of the hat goes to Kuramathi for its accolade from international tour operator Tui for its annual International Environmental Award.

The award specifically cited the work of Reinhard Kikinger who has been working for 10 years on coral reef preservation in the Maldives and heads the Eco Centre there. In particular, it called out the video it had developed and uses in its education programme to both guests and local Maldivians…

“Water pollution and over exploitation through tourism can lead to irreparable damage. The compelling concept of the Kuramathi Eco Centre for bringing nature conservation and tourism into harmony is based on research, the sustainable use of resources and the raising of public awareness, which are performed in cooperation with TUI and the local population. From the very beginning TUI was involved in the commitment of the research centre as an important partner playing a catalytic role. A project currently being undertaken is the production of a computer animated short film for tourists highlighting sustainable behaviour in coral reefs. Several times a week video presentations are shown revealing the coral reefs habitat. On top of that are microscopic demonstrations which provide tourists with an insight into concealed worlds. And guided snorkelling safaris reveal the beauty of and also the threats facing the underwater world. Moreover, the Eco Centre cooperates with the school on the neighbouring island of Rasdhoo.”

Best of the Maldives: Manta Research – Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru

Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru Manta 2

Mantas are the most magical creatures I have seen in the wild. They have an a otherworldly aura to them that seems almost like a beneficent alien spaceship. And they too appreciate spa treatments that they get from wrasse fish at ‘cleaning stations.’

Similarly smitten Martin Clunes recently produced a television show ‘Man to Manta’ on ITV which is on ITV Player.

The resort most smitten with Mantas has to be Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru. One of the major focus areas of their Marine Centre are mantas where they run their Maldivian Manta Ray Project (MMRP). The programme was founded by Senior Marine Biologist Guy Stevens and is supported by Save Our Seas. It has the largest number of identified manta rays on record in the world. Landaa honours this work with a distinctive Manta sculpture in its Marine Discovery Centre. And, the Maldives section of Clune’s show is filmed at Landaa including an interview with Stevens.

The picture above was taken during one of our Landaa dives in November.

Martin Clunes Man to Manta

Best of the Maldives: Exhibit – Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru

Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru exhibit

The number one objection to visiting the Maldives is the thought that there is nothing to do there. If you don’t (a) dive, (b) have a newlywed to stare into the eyes of, or (c) work on your tan, then what do you do on an isolate plot of sand in the middle of the ocean? Most resorts have good watersports centres which provide an extended range of options for the hyperactive. The Maldives Complete ‘Best Of’ section highlights a number of further original distractions and offerings. But few innovations are as ambitious and comprehensive as Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru’sMarine Discovery Center’. In fact, the centre itself contains 3 ‘Best Of’ distinctions in itself (Fish Nursery, Sculpture, Kids Education).

Lori and I were given a tour of the facility by Harry Masefield (see pictures). While modest in size, the center is packed with exhibits that are not only intriguing, but also stylish and inviting. The tour took almost and hour, but we could have spent all day there. There are visual exhibits, an interactive kiosk, a kids hands-on area, the research area, reefscaping workshop, art, presentation area, aquarium among the many resources to explore. More details to follow in future posts.

Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru exhibit 2

Best of the Maldives: Solar Powered – Soneva Fushi

Solar Panels
In honour of 
Soneva Fushi’s hosted Eco Conference taking place this week (if you go to their micro-site, you can find a number of press releases about some of the content), I thought that I would call out yet another distinctive for Soneva on the same eco theme.

Maldives have long been the poster child for environmental awareness and initiatives. The latest tactic in battling global warming that has gotten a big profile is solar with the President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed donned hard hat and tools and personally helped installed solar panels for his official residence.

But no one in the Maldives is going bigger on solar than Soneva

“Soneva Fushi, Six Senses’ flagship resort, has installed a 70kW solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant system that has achieved eight months of successful operation. It is the largest renewable energy plant currently operating in the Maldives, a country that has brought international attention to the issue of global warming and rising sea levels.”

Best of the Maldives: Eco Conference – Soneva Fushi

Mohamed Nasheed    Jeremy Leggett    Mark Lynas

While the focus of the Hay Festival Maldives event being sponsored by Soneva Fushi features a range of ecological issues, Soneva Fushi has gone one further by hosting an Eco Symposium ‘climate change debate’ featuring a range of premier environmental keynote speakers. One of the speakers is none other than the high profile Maldive President Mohamed Nasheed. It also includes Solar Century Founder Jeremy Leggett (with whom I shared the speaking stage a few years ago at the 2007 Tech Track Awards), and Mark Lynas author of ‘Six Degrees: Our Future on A Hotter Planet’ (which coincidentally I just read last week…scary stuff). Quite a first class line-up.

  • “The Six Senses Eco Symposium at Soneva Fushi in the Maldives from 7-10 October 2010 will have an exciting line up of guest speakers including leading consultants, environmentalists, international policy makers and visionaries…The Symposium’s opening speakers will be President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed and his advisor on climate change, Mark Lynas. President Nasheed has made worldwide headlines with his country’s commitment to carbon neutrality by 2020. Mark Lynas’ bestselling book “Six Degrees: Our future on a hotter planet” won the prestigious Royal Society Prize for Science Books in 2007 and was turned into a documentary by National Geographic.Practical examples of eco technology will be showcased at the Symposium to inspire the travel and tourism leaders attending. Clean energy specialists such as Lounette Dyer of Soledo Energy, Jeremy Leggett of Solarcentury, Eric Scotto of Akuo Energy Group and Dr. Anthony Michaels of Proteus Environmental Technologies will explain how existing technology can both reduce the carbon footprint of hotels and resorts and increase profitability, the holy grail for the industry.”

Best of the Maldives: Voluntouring – Soneva Fushi / Soneva Gili

Six Senses Voluntourism

If you fancy contributing more than an afternoon helping the Maldives through a activity like reefscaping, and more than a day doing something like Earth Hour, then the Six Senses resorts Soneva Fushi and Soneva Gili are offering a special ‘Voluntourism’ rate between 1st July and 12th October 2010.

“Soneva Fushi and Soneva Gili by Six Senses are offering the opportunity to give something back. For the next six months, guests are invited to stay at either resort for five nights, without charge and to spend five hours of each day working on local community projects, such as marine conservation, teaching children, planting trees and learning how to turn waste into wealth. This unique Eco Season voluntourism package includes 5 nights paid, 5 nights free in exchange for 5 hours per day of valuable and motivating work for the first 5 days of a luxurious 10 day stay.

“Guests can choose from the following areas of work:

  1. Marine Conservation
  2. Waste Management
  3. Carbon Mitigation
  4. Youth Education
  5. Boost Local Island Income”

Here are links to the documents with full offer details as well as the work breakdowns.