Today we flew from Dubai with Emirates to the Maldives. On the flight to the Veligandu Island Resort we could already see the first islands of the Maldives with their bright colors and were looking forward to a great holiday in this paradise 🙂
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Things to know about the Maldives
The Maldives is a chain (the name Maldives means “island chain”) of 19 archipelagos in the Indian Ocean, which extend over 870 kilometers in the north-south extent. So a really long stretch! Of the 2,000 coral islands, 220 islands are inhabited by locals and 87 islands are used for tourist purposes (resorts and hotels), such as Kuramathi, Bandos, Vabbinfaru or Meerufenfushi. Apart from the capital Malé, there are only a few cities in which the island nation’s 350,000 inhabitants live, such as Hithadhoo, Fuvammulah, Kulhudhuffushi or Thinadhoo. The Maldives is grouped into 26 atolls, both north and south of the equator. The islands are all only about 1 meter above sea level and the highest elevation is on the island of Villingili in Addu Atoll with an unbelievably high 2.40 meters 🙂
In general, the height of the buildings on the islands must not exceed the highest palm tree. In addition, many native species, including turtles and sharks, as well as 25 coral reefs, have been protected.
A map of the Maldives with the different atolls
Our seaplane flight over the Maldives
The flight time from Dubai to Male is about 4 hours. Ibrahim Nasir International Airport is located on the island of Hulhulé, which is connected to the capital Malé by ferry connections. In the reception hall of the airport there is a check-in desk for the various seaplane transfers. We were taken by shuttle to the Trans Maldivian Airways seaplane terminal. From here the transfers with the small propeller machines go to the individual atolls in the Maldives. Trans Maldivian Airways is the oldest surviving airline in the Maldives.
The flight over the individual atolls gave us a great taste of the wonderful island world of the Maldives.
Arrival on Veligandu Island
And then finally came the island of the Veligandu Island Resort 🙂 Veligandu Island is located about 60 kilometers from the capital Malé in the North Ari Atoll and can be reached by seaplane in about 20 minutes. From the plane we could see the beautiful island of Veligandu and the resort with its water bungalows.
After landing in the crystal clear waters of the lagoon we were picked up by a small boat and taken to our resort. Now our 8 days of relaxation in the Maldives begin 🙂
