Maldives name derived from the Tamil name Maalaitheevu (மாலைத்தீவு). Still, this Island is known as Maalaitheevu in Tamil. Maalai means garland and Theevu means Island. Which could have been named due to the island’s natural formation as a garland. Due to its notorious location on the planet amongst many superior nations, it was continually invaded by many Western Indians, British, Arab and African (Somalians and Ethiopians) traders who had given this country a distinct culture.

It also could be proved that both Sri Lanka and the Maldives were sharing so many linguistic and cultural features, making Maldivian language a sister language of Sinhala. Lots of similarities between Sinhala and Maldivian could be witnessed. And Maldivian food also tastes like Sinhala cuisine. I found many Tamil words are still in use, which proved the dominance and existence of Tamil influences in this land before the Sinhala influences. For example Dhoni(தோணி) for a ferry.

Many centuries ago the Maldives was a Hindu nation with the Dravidian culture, then turned into Buddhism, which was introduced by Western Indian arrivals and then Arabian and Northern African Muslim traders gave this land Islam. Since then it has persisted with its own culture and religion.

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Arriving in Hulhule, the Airport Island

Landed at INIA (Ibrahim Nasir International Aiport) in Hulhule Island of Maldives at 15:00 hours. After clearing all immigration formalities, a pre-booked airport transfer from the hotel, ferried us to Male’ island free of charge. It took only just 10 minutes to the ferry, a flat-bottomed boat, across the airport island. When reached Male island, a pre arranged free taxi took us to the hotel. The hotel staff who received us at the airport uncontrollably chatted away lots of information about Male which I desperately needed. Hulhule Island is fully dedicated for the Airport and some official premises. Apart from some transit hotel here in Hulhule Island nothing much happened. So we clicked some pictures before were ferried to the capital Island, Male’, for check-in. The scenery and the Male’s tropical, hot, humid and dry weather gave us a very warm welcome.

This was my first-time travel on a five-day trip to Maldives covering the capital island Male and its neighboring islands Villingili, Hulhumale, and Hulhule. This time my family too joined me.

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Male', the Capital Island

To start with, there are no trains in Male. Obviously. Buses and taxis are available. But, we freely took many hours walking to the backside of the island and into all side-streets. A cab could be arranged for a ride. In my limited experience, they`re pretty comfortable, air-conditioned, relatively inexpensive and seemed fairly reliable too. Yet, traffic can be busy at peak time through narrow roads, whereas really not much space for expansion. There is a fixed point-to-point fare, £0.80/15Rufiyaa, for any distance on the island. I don’t understand why they need to own vehicles in this tiny land.

All the surrounding islands of the City island Male’ were well connected by frequent ferry services. The fare was too very cheap and was to be enjoyed. Mostly all ferry carry tourists, locals and their goods allowing to experience a real local way of life. We just hopped on to a ferry in the morning, stayed a whole day on an island and returned back to the base before dusk.

In Male, where east to west distance is only 3 kilometres long and north to south is only 2 kilometres long, makes end to end, easily walkable in a couple of hours, and it is fully on flat land. It doesn’t need much time-travel.

Just remind you, Male' isn't really a holiday destination, but it is an interesting place for exploration. If you are expecting good beaches as glossy magazines suggest, you find none in Male'. There is a public beach in Male’, but disappointingly badly maintained. If you and your babe intending for a romantic beach, pack your things up and get yourself ferried to any neighbouring resorts.

The Accommodation in Male Island

We stayed in Hotel Laze, located west of the Island. It is 4 star rated and they provided good services. It located in a medium street mix with the residential area. The room was spacious. WiFi worked well. Breakfast was fine. If your itinerary is going to cover Male, don't go anywhere else go to Hotel Laze and be hassle free.

The time was passed 16:00hours when we arrived here in Male. We hurriedly washed and dressed up for the night out. Found amazed and at the same time bit disappointed with the island's basic set up. This could have been that we arrived from UAE spending 10 days seeing skyscrapers and now to see such basic set up in Male. We had difficulties to adjust ourselves to suit this environment. Though basic, we also understood that Male’ is an island totally depending on tourism and fishing, not oil.

The sightseeing almost started from the pier at the Airport ferry terminal, and we saw all points of interest within that time before reaching the hotel.

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Vilimale Island

We arrived on a day trip to this beautiful Island from the ferry terminal located in the southeast corner of Male. The ferry took only 15 minutes to arrive costing us only £6/MR one way for all four of us. We walked along all streets which took only 3 hours to complete. The roads were lonely and empty without any beeping vehicles. I started capturing all that came along from the minute I boarded onto the boat. Learning the local lifestyle while walking along the street. We stayed until the dusk and ferried back to the hotel in Male.

There were many places for dinning in Vilimale Island. We were very keen to have a Maldivian lunch and found one with a taste of Maldivian contained food at Xie Xie Restaurent.

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Hulhumale Island

This Island is adjacent to Hulhule, the Airport Island.

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Departing Maldives - A Final Thought

Maldives is not an affordable destination. Though it is an Island, the oxygen we breathed in was not 100%. Overly imported scooters and motorcycles are uncontrollably pumping CO2 making the air unbreathable.

Our five days in the Maldives were well enough to explore Male’ and its neighbouring Island.

Our stay in the Maldives’ was not as busy as it was in the UAE. We were simply lazing off on the beach most of the time. Ate and slept for nine or more hours every day. Every morning I just did a brisk walk around the island which took only about 60 minutes.

This trip to the Maldives unfortunately, would be the last as well. Due to rising sea, the entire islands will disappear under the water in few decades. The land is only a meter above sea level. Before it becomes inhabitable, I just wanted to touch down and experience the lifestyle of the people living in this land.

Maldivians don't seem to be recycling plastics. Maldivian islands are becoming a place of trash. Plastics are thrown everywhere. Beaches are filled with trash of all kinds. I was so careful not to capture any of these objects while capturing nature’s beauty. Just avoided them on the corner of the frame. Photos coming from the Maldives tell a different story.

On the last day, the taxi driver who dropped us off at the ferry point said, living and working in any islands of Maldives is like living in an open prison. I too have to agree to it.◆

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