top of page
Search
Writer's pictureJhalak Shanghvi

Maldives, the Indian Ocean’s Jewel

Located in the Indian Ocean, Maldives is a colony of 1192 coral islands. Spreading approx. 298 sq. kilometres. However, they are dispersed over an area of 90,000 square kilometres.

It is the smallest Asian country and the most dispersed geographically. Only 200 islands are inhabited.

The islands after are pretty small and you can explore the entire island by foot. Most of the islands have an average population of 2000 resident and the total population is approx. 328,000 people.



Male Is the capital of Maldives and is called ‘King’s Island’ for its central location. It has the maximum number of residents of 100,000 people and the rest are divided between the 199 islands

The name Maldives, mostly is derived from the Tamil words ‘Malaai’ meaning garland and ‘Theevu’ meaning island or Necklace Island in Sinhalese.

It is located 700 kilometres south of Srilanka and 400 kilometres South-west of India.

The main source of income of Maldivians is tourism and fishing. 99% of the goods for consumption are imported as the islands are too small to start any heavy industrial activities.

It is one of the top tourism destinations, especially for honeymoon holidays.

Dhivehi Is the local language of the Maldivians, however English is wide spread and fairly well spoken by everyone. The local currency of Maldives is ‘Rufiyaa’. Although, you can transact with all the world’s leading currencies.

Maldives, mostly allows a 30 day ‘VISA on Arrival’ and you need not apply a VISA before travelling. However, you will without a doubt will have book your hotel and to and fro travelling in advance.

Most of the resorts will offer you a pick and drop to the airport and the hotels and resorts near the airport offer a speed boat ride while the ones that are far offer a sea-plan ride. The ride and the flight are quite an experience.

Maldives, is very well connected with the rest of the world with several international hubs offering direct flight to Male.

With no hills and other ascends, Maldives, holds a record of being the flattest country in the world. More than 90% of Maldives is water.

All the islands have white sands and crystal-clear waters. The sand is ‘coralline’ and not quartz. Corallines are rare as most of the world’s beaches consists of quartz sand. Quartz sands are the most common type of sand and the particles look like broken pieces of sans (Not getting into the technicalities)

While Corallines or Coral sand is light colored sands which consists of calcareous fragments, which are bits and pieces of corals






18 views0 comments

Commentaires


bottom of page