Keeping the Maldives magic

Tropical Vabbinfaru and its reef

JANE COMMON finds paradise ...and then helps it stay that way.

 

IT’S one of the world’s most beautiful nations – nearly 1,200 islands sprinkled like stars across 35,000 square miles of clear blue sea. It’s been the backdrop to thousands of marriage proposals and wedding ceremonies yet the paradise of the Maldives is under threat from rising sea levels and destruction of the coral reefs.

I have to admit this isn’t at the top of my mind as I arrive at the Banyan Tree resort on Vabbinfaru. Every workaday worry disappears during a 20-minute boat trip from Malé airport, dolphins leading the way. Butter coloured sands and vibrant green palm trees greet us, along with a drummer beating out a salutation.

When I see my beachfront pool villa my heart starts drumming too. There’s a private garden with pool, Jacuzzi, outdoor shower, four-poster bed and floor-to-ceiling glass doors opening on to my own stretch of beach. A wooden walkway leads to a sala, a wooden hut standing out to sea, where I can doze to the gentle lapping of the Indian Ocean.

I really don’t want to leave my hideaway but am finally persuaded by the award-winning spa. And the dining options – a restaurant and bar on the beach or a private table on the jetty. I seek even more splendid isolation and take a speedboat to a deserted sandbank for breakfast.

 

One of the biggest attractions in the Maldives is the snorkelling. Aquatic adventurers are given a briefing by Moosa at Banyan Tree’s Marine Lab, where the problems in paradise are addressed. Every island is surrounded by a reef, Moosa explains – its house reef – but a rise in sea temperatures caused by the 1998 El Niño, the annual weather pattern that warms the Pacific, bleached 98 per cent of coral on Vabbinfaru’s reef.

In response Banyan Tree became the first resort to have a marine lab, visited by international experts, and now 40 steel cages are submerged around the island, charged by low electrical currents.

In these coral gardens fresh coral blossoms. One garden is shaped like a star while another honours Vabbinfaru’s turtles. This is a green sea turtle nesting site and any struggling youngsters are taken to the lab where they’re nurtured before being released back into the ocean.

Moosa’s words make the privilege of being here even greater, particularly as experts predict this winter’s El Niño could be one of the strongest on record. Then it’s time to discover the reef for myself. We swim a few minutes from shore, don snorkels and are transported to a psychedelic octopus’s garden. The reef is like a magical moss-covered mountain and I smile at the brightly-coloured fish straight from Finding Nemo central casting then gasp as a shark flashes by (no Jaws but a far friendlier 4ft reef shark).

I later visit the house reef at Velavaru in the Maldives’ Southern Atoll. It is part of the Banyan Tree group, a 40-minute seaplane flight from Malé, the Maldives’ island capital. The flight gives a unique perspective on the vastness of the Indian Ocean and the minuteness of the islands. They appear as turtles, jetties sticking out of little bodies like legs.

 

Sleep to the sound of the sea

Connect with the wildlife by turtle watching

In fact, Velavaru (literally, Turtle Island) is two islands, one natural, the other a man-made marvel of 34 wooden villas on stilts. The villas are opulence itself – think the judges’ houses on X Factor – with infinity pools stretching into the ocean. Their glamour makes me giddy and I prefer the natural island, two minutes away on a traditional dhoni boat, which is none too shabby itself.

There are two restaurants – at one staff happily prepare the red snapper we catch on a night fishing trip – and a spa. Just as at Vabbinfaru, though, there’s an awareness that all this beauty and bounty can’t be taken for granted so I join Solah, from Velavaru’s own Marine Lab, along with other guests and staff on the monthly reef clean-up. As our boat moors beside the house reef, Solah instructs us in how to pick off the “pin cushions”, a type of star fish that suffocates the baby corals.

“Whoever removes the most will win 100 rufiyaa,” Salah cheers, distributing protective white gloves. Even with the bribe, I don’t find any as they’re so hard to see. Fortunately, Salah and the staff collect bagfuls, 119 in all, to be taken back to Velavaru and turned into sand. Still it’s good to know, as I pay my $1 a night to Banyan Tree’s Green Imperative Fund for environmental projects and initiatives, that I’ve done my (admittedly little) bit. Hopefully in this way, generations of holidaymakers can experience the magic of the Maldives for many years to come.

THE KNOWLEDGE

Abercrombie and Kent (01242 547760/ abercrombiekent.co.uk) offers seven nights at the Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru from £3,250pp (two sharing), full board. Price includes flights from London Heathrow to Malé, and speedboat transfers. Maldives tourism: visitmaldives.com