DESTINATION #02

MALDIVES

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SHARM EL-SHEIKHA

27°54'44 " N 34°19'47 " E

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“THE MALDIVES HOSTS
5% OF THE WORLD’S
CORAL REEFS.”

MALDIVES

Located between India and Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean, the Maldives is a nation of 1,192 islands stretching for more than 850 kilometres. Tourism is a major industry, with the country of 515,000 citizens hosting 1.7 million visitors in 2019!

Tiny islands fringed with beaches of soft white sand surrounded by clear shallow water, the Maldives is home to about five percent of the world’s coral reefs. Thanks to the plankton and nutrients brought in by the ocean current, there is abundant marine life, with around 1,000 kinds of fish, including pelagics like whale sharks and manta rays.

During the southwest monsoon (May to October), you can see huge numbers of mantas ‘cyclone feeding’ on plankton funneled through channels into Hanifaru Bay at Baa Atoll. For sheer variety, meanwhile, Addu Atoll has everything from turtles to eagle rays. The Maldives also has a healthy supply of shipwrecks. Of the two wrecks at the Shipyard in Lhaviyani Atoll, one famously stands upright with its bow thrusting up out of the water.

The Maldives is the world’s most low-lying country, putting it uniquely at risk from rising sea levels caused by global warming. The island’s environment depends on the health of its coral reef ecosystems. Coral reef restoration projects have been underway since 2005, fishing regulations are strict, and in 2019 the president announced a bold move to phase out single-use plastics.

* Sources include Visit Maldives, Tripadvisor etc.

TRIPADVISOR