A bird’s-eye view of A bird’s-eye view of the Muraka villa, with underwater bedroom, at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island Opposite: the new Kudadoo Maldives resort on Lhaviyani Atoll, with its solar-powered roof Asia’s smallest country is making waves, thanks to a combination of political savvy and a raft of new pictureperfect resorts. By Cynthia Rosenfeld CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 79
S ea levels are rising at least as fast as environmental concerns, but for travellers, one bright spot is emerging – or 1,192 coral islands to be precise. “A real sense of optimism has returned,” says environmental activist Paul Roberts about the Maldives, the lowest-lying nation on Earth with its scattering of equatorial isles rising on average 2.4 metres above the Indian Ocean off India’s southern coast. The part-time Maldives resident is referring to promising changes ushered in with the September 2018 election of Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the third democratically elected leader of this singular archipelago. In his first year in office, Solih has worked with the parliament to jumpstart genuinely promising measures like the recently announced Maldives Coral Institute to help coral adapt to rising sea temperatures, the transformation of Thilafushi (dubbed “trash island”) into renewable electricity, the nationwide single-use plastics ban, about which he spoke in his inaugural address to the UN in October, and, finally, the state- funded research into modifying the Maldives’ ubiquitous overwater villa design to construct floating runways, hospitals and other key infrastructure projects. “It’s a positive, exciting time for Maldivians,” says Roberts. “And tourism dollars aren’t going into a dictator’s pockets.” The Maldives’ sustainable future relies in part upon the success of the bevy of new and new-look properties opening across the country – and there is no shortage of wondrous island escapes. MAKING A STATEMENT In our Instagram-friendly age, a good impression is as good as gold, and there are few new resorts as picturesque as Joali (joali.com) in the northern Raa Atoll, where all 71 tropically opulent villas top out above 100 square metres, with the Four-Bedroom Beach Residence sprawling to five times that. It is home to the only hammam in the Maldives, plus four dining outlets, including the barefoot Mura Bar, Japanese-Nikkei eatery Saoke, with its 50 sakes and a liquid-nitrogen ice-cream parlour. Guests dive among New York-based Misha Kahn’s underwater Coral Sculpture Garden along the house reef and relax in South African Porky Hefer’s manta-ray-shaped tree house and heronlike shaded beach chaise. Other noteworthy new tenants among these remote spits of sand are The Nautilus Maldives (thenautilusmaldives.com), whose 26 beach and ocean houses occupy a strip of bone-white strand just 250 metres wide in marine-rich Baa Atoll, as well as the Baglioni (baglionihotels.com), where la dolce vita shimmers with 96 white-onbeige villas featuring beds lavished with Frette linens and a spa with Insium’s luscious organic serums. For instant gratification, hop in the speedboat bobbing alongside the international hall in Malé direct to Lux* North Male Atoll (luxresorts.com), its 67 duplex villas designed in homage to Riva yachts and topped with sundecks. The most artful arriviste must be Fairmont Maldives ( fairmont.com), accessible by a breathtaking 55-minute seaplane flight north from Malé over the blue hues. Along with 120 polished-wood villas and refined jungle tents, a refreshingly green change of scenery, Coralarium is the showstopper. Don goggles and fins to explore this semi-submerged tidal gallery with more than two-dozen sculptures conceived by British environmental artist Jason deCaires Taylor to support marine life and coral-reef propagation. YOUR OWN PRIVATE ISLAND One resort per palm isle is the norm here, but a rarefied few offer something even more singular. At the new Waldorf Astoria Maldives PHOTOS FROM LEFT: © JOALI, DIEGO DE POL; PREVIOUS SPREAD FROM LEFT: DIEGO DE POL, THOMAS MIDULLA 80 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
