Nicole schreibt...
Maldives 2021 |
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A travel report on a week spent on an island measuring exactly 380 x 190 metres would probably be too short to even bother. On the other hand this was a very unique trip and when I look back at these reports years later (hard to believe I've been writing these reports for almost 20 years now!), I do want to remember all the things I've been feeling right now. So, yes, me on the Maldives, a thing I never thought would happen. The Maldives are an archipelago around 700 kilometres to the south-west of the Indian subcontinent, consisting of nearly 1,200 very flat small coral islands. You can go there for sunbathing, swimming, diving and snorkelling and not much else. Since my perfect holiday is a mix of active sightseeing and relaxation on the beach, the Maldives never really appealed to me. Why fly ten hours just to sit on a beach, I used to think. So what has changed? Covid-19 of course, the global pandemic that has turned the world upside down and cut me off from virtually all the pastimes I enjoy, most notably travelling and theatre, but also smaller things like an evening at the thermal baths or even just a relaxing massage. Things reached boiling point around February, when four months of lockdown and isolation were joined by an almost breathtaking level of incompetence and ineptitude when it came to organizing a vaccination programme, rapid testing and digital tracing both on EU-wide and national level. I just couldn't take it anymore. For a year I followed every rule and regulation and went without all the things I loved "to do my bit" in this pandemic. But now that it was time for the government to reciprocate, to really do their outmost to get us out of this... all they created was a bureaucratic mess. So I had to get to out and get a break from it all.
Cue the Maldives. One of the few holiday destinations that hasn't imposed a quarantine on incoming tourists, presumably because sitting on tiny isolated islands is a quarantine in itself. What many people are not aware of is the fact that in 12th century the Buddhist ruler of the island state converted to Islam under the influence of Arabic traders. From 18th century onwards the Maldives were a British colony, before an independent and strictly islamic Republic was proclaimed in 1967. When tourism began to be developed soon after, the government established a firm divide between inhabited islands which tourists weren't allowed to visit and newly opened resort islands (full of immoral westerners) locals weren't allowed to visit. While this has been loosened in 21st century and the first hotels or even privately run guest houses have sprung up on inhabited islands, most islands are still nothing more than a single resort.
Usually it's possible for visitors to book day trips to the capital Malé (seen here from the plane on approaching the airport), but this has been cut down now to prevent infections on either side. Not that I particularly minded, because Malé has a reputation for being incredibly ugly - the most densely populated (and also smallest) capital in the world.
Between the lack of quarantine when getting in and the fact that my nerves were far too frayed to consider any trip beyond just getting out of this increasingly claustrophobic madhouse here, the Maldives suddenly seemed very appealing. And as I had seen before on Tahiti and Mauritius, even places that tout themselves as the ultimate luxury destination needn't be that, if you choose wisely. My pick was Embudu Village, a 3* resort on the island of Emboodhoo, which focuses more on a laid back simple island lifestyle than over the top luxury. Funny enough I could see it from the plane (recognizing it from the photos), so here is an aerial view. As you can see it's very green with lush tropical vegetation, into which the bungalows have been rather unobtrusively inserted. While there are direct flights from Frankfurt with Lufthansa (which the travel operator didn't offer) and Condor (which I avoid like the plague for their ratty uncomfortable planes and shoddy service where everything costs extra), I ended up flying Etihad Airways via Abu Dhabi - which I didn't mind at all as I've always been impressed by Emirates and was keen on checking out another Gulf airline. All I needed in preparation to travel was a negative PCR-Test and I was ready to go.
Etihad proved to be a lucky choice, not just for their service. The aviation geek in me rejoiced in finally flying the new much-praised Dreamliner with its amazing large light-adjustable windows, but even better was the fact that the plane from Frankfurt was shockingly empty. It didn't get fuller than what you see on the picture. So I could not only stretch out across three seats to sleep, I also had free rows in front and behind me and across the aisle, creating my private little Covid-free zone. The flight to Abu Dhabi was uneventful and I enjoyed the sight of open shops and restaurants at the airport there. Even better was the existence of a Costa and finding a piece of my much-missed London in the Middle East. And while the plane to Malé was a bit fuller (with tourists from all over the world), I once more had all three seats to myself to sleep (which would repeat itself on the way back and was definitely some positive pay-off for travelling during the pandemic, even though I feel sorry for the airlines. Well, not so much for the state-fed Gulf airlines perhaps..).
Immigration was swift (with two extra checks to take your temperature and a digital health certificate you had to fill in before leaving) and I found my travel operator's representative to guide me to the right boat. It had seemed prudent to book via a travel operator in these weird times but eventually it was just as pointless as it always is as the actual representative never showed up at the resort (citing Covid restrictions) and I had to handle everything, including organizing a PCR test for the return trip on my own at reception (which was staffed with very lovely people). The boat transfer from the airport to the island took about 30 mins and then I was finally on my little island in the sun. You can see here how it was created as a so-called barefoot island, the ground just sand (and someone took my suitcase to my bungalow in a wheelbarrow!) and palms and other trees everywhere. This was the main area with reception, bar and separate restaurant where all meals were served. The restaurant was also the only place where Corona reared its ugly head as everyone had to wear a mask when not seated. Guests weren't allowed to serve themselves from the buffets but had to point at stuff and get things ladled onto their plates by staff. Which, honestly, is something they could do all the time to stop idiots from messing around or greedily piling food sky-high.
I took my phone (and thus its pedometer) on walks with me and I kid you not, one walk all around the island amounted to exactly 1900 steps (in roughly ten minutes). But things never felt dull or boring. The beaches were incredibly beautiful and more importantly, the underwater life was simply breathtaking. I had got a bit of an appetite for snorkelling in the waters of Polynesia, but the Maldives were even better. Basically 20 metres from the beach the ground suddenly fell sharply and while the coral reefs were deader than a dodo, the remains were populated with an incredibly lot of different colorful tropical fish. It was just like diving into your personal huge aquarium and a joy to watch all of the little fish dart about or suddenly get engulfed in a swarm of banner fish. I did jump out of my skin a bit when a small shark suddenly appeared, but it seemed to be happy to mind its own business, so I did the same. I could have taken part in excursions to the "house reef" to see an actual coral reef and even bigger fish, but frankly, I was just happy to watch all the pretty little fish close to the beach. Sadly I can't do underwater pictures, but here are a few more of the gorgeous little island itself:
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There was also quite a bit of wild (and not so wild) life to watch like the ever-industrious crabs digging holes in the beach and the lizards flitting about everywhere. What the rooster and hen were doing there, I do not know, but I saw them out and about on walks every day.
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Another joy was the food, as I hadn't really realized that the proximity to India would mean lots of delightful Indian food on the buffet every day and I could stuff myself with fabulous curries and dhaal galore. Though my personal discovery was a Sri Lankan dessert called Wattalappan, something like a very light cake with coconut and cardamom, that tasted like summer holiday and christmas rolled into one. I could also finally take advantage of a massage again at the lovely little spa and otherwise just spent my time chilling on the beach to read, swim and repair my frayed nerves. I still think that - unless you're into diving and snorkelling - the Maldives are not really worth travelling this far for from Europe, since we have plenty of gorgeous beaches in the Mediterranean. But under these special circumstances with me feeling so much at the end of my tether with everything back home, it WAS the perfect choice for a place to finally get a break and really come to rest and recharge. I was also very pleased with my down-to-earth choice of Embudu Village, which felt like a true little haven with wonderfully friendly staff and very well-managed. They even had a little clinic on the premises where someone took PCR-tests from guests to take them to the hospital on Malé and have the results ready in time for travelling. Leaving the Maldives again was no problem either, but coming back to the full glory of antiquated German bureaucracy at Frankfurt Airport some hours later felt like a cold shower. Luckily, I was by then chilled enough to just laugh about it all. Which really tells me that the trip did for me what I would hope it would do, so I'm really really glad I went.
I tend to end my writings with a sunset, but since I can't decide which one is the more beautiful one, here are two even:
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