Why The Maldives Must Be Number One On Your Bucket List

Most people are clueless about the location of the Maldives (they’re below India and Sri Lanka in the middle of the Indian Ocean), but everyone knows they are a posh honeymoon/vacation spot where guests choose overwater bungalows or luxurious beach villas. Some just want to laze in the sun which shines more than 2,700 hours a year, while others go for the gourmet food, blissful spa treatments or water activities, enough to challenge even the most die-hard thalassophile (someone who loves the sea).

The bad news is that the Maldives, one of the lowest countries in the world, are only three feet above sea level and greatly threatened by sea level rise, coastal storm surges, and associated flooding. Scientists say that given scenarios for global warming emissions, by the year 2100, the Maldives will experience a 1’5-foot sea level rise and lose 77 percent of the land area. This means that eventually the Maldives will fall into the sea— all the more reason to visit this paradise now and help do everything possible to save it.

Recently, I visited the three Four Seasons Resorts Maldives, all five-star: Four Seasons Resorts Maldives at Kuda Huraa, Four Seasons Explorer dive yacht, and Four Seasons Resorts Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru. I wrote about Kuda Huraa and the Explorer for Forbes.com. Today, I will tell you about Landaa Giraavaru, the Maldives’ first UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve of Baa Atoll. This 44-acre remote idyll is set in unspoiled jungle wilderness, surrounded by powdery white sand beaches and one of the Maldives’ largest natural lagoons.

A resort is only as good as its staff, and I was greeted in the most unique way possible (the same way I had been greeted at Kuda Huraa and the Explorer): with a Boduberu or "Big Drum" ceremony performed by the staff. They handed me a perfumed washcloth, fresh coconut with a straw, and whisked me to my sumptuous beach villa, in front of which was a bicycle with my initials on the basket. This was a perfect way to get around the property, though I could call for a buggy any time I wanted and be taken wherever I wanted to go.

My villa was truly the kind that makes you gasp. In addition to the bedroom with a thirty-foot high thatched roof, I had a private pool big enough to swim laps, and a pathway leading through the greenery directly to the sea and my own private beach complete with a daybed, two recliners and beach umbrellas. Near my pool was a circular stairway leading to even more seating.

I played musical outdoor chairs: first I tried the swinging chair, then the lounge chair, then a few comfy armchairs, and finally, the daybed. Besides my private pool and beach, the many seating areas in both the sun and shade were so comfortable, I knew I might never leave; so I hopped on my bike and headed to one of Landaa Giraavaru's four restaurants (each run by a top chef) for lunch. I chose Blu Beach Club, the Italian restaurant overlooking the sea, where I had a melt-in-your-mouth reef fish ceviche followed by Baa Atoll Snapper, Coconut Milk, Organic Tomato, and Island Thyme, all while looking out to the Indian Ocean.

Landaa Giraavaru has some very unique amenities: petals and oils in your villa’s bathtub after dinner, a private sandbar moonlit dinner, a sunset champagne dhoni cruise (traditional wooden boat), exquisite chocolate manta rays and coral reefs waiting in your bungalow by pastry chef Alexander (who also sings opera), and much more.

Both Kuda Huraa and Landaa Giraavaru have a Marine Discovery Center with a Turtle Rehabilitation Clinic to care for injured Olive Ridley turtles and prepare for their release back to the wild. Guests can watch turtle feeding as well as nightly feeding (right off the dock) of black, grey tip and nurse sharks. At Landaa Giraavaru, there are some A.I. hologram films (great for both adults and kids) to observe the famous manta rays under the sea. of which more than 5,000 have been counted.

But what really sets Landaa Giraavaru and Kuda Huraa apart from other world-class resorts are its initiatives to help save the planet. Through the Four Seasons Reefscapers, the resort does coral replanting and has regrown more than 500,000 pieces of 40 species of coral transplanted onto 7,000 coral frames. Here, guests can sponsor (and name) a coral frame, which is dived into the water with coral fragments attached to the frame to boost existing reef habitats and generate new ones. Some corals have been specially selected to help re-establish severely threatened fish species which almost disappeared from the northern atolls following the devastating bleaching events of 1998 which killed 90% of the country’s shallow water corals and in 2016 when more than 60% of the coral reefs in the Maldives were hit by bleaching.

My friends from Sweden adopted a coral frame and named it for their first grandchild. Not only will a plaque be attached to the frame, but they’ll receive progress reports and photographs every six months.

The second initiative is Landau Giraavaru’s AyurMa Spa, a 2.5-acre health escape with treatments, yoga and an Ayurvedic learning center. Ayurveda, developed in India 5,000 years ago, is based on a Sanskrit word Ayur (life) and veda (science or knowledge) and translates to the science of living a healthy life. Unlike traditional western cures, Ayurveda is based on the theory of five primal elements, the building blocks of the universe and all life, including humans. The five Ayurvedic doctors here deal with everything from rotator cuff injuries, poor sleep, arthritis, to stress and more. Using natural remedies, they teach guests how to optimize their health through diet, herbal remedies, and lifestyle modifications.

I was pretty dubious as I was greeted at AyurMa with a cup of soothing ginger tea, but during my initial consultation with one of the Ayurvedic doctors, I realized my life didn’t have to be full of steroid shots and Tylenol for pain –there were other more natural cures.

I have major mobility issues and figured yoga was too stressful for my back; but the yoga doctor started me with breathing exercises and led me in special exercises to strengthen my core. I was shocked at how well I felt and told him it was a pity he didn’t teach in New York City. But he does! Every day there is free Zoom yoga for former guests who can participate from anywhere in the world. “But why do you do it for free?” I asked.

He smiled and said, “We like to give back.”

I had a treatment with two therapists who were so in synch, I didn’t know they were two until after the treatment when I opened my eyes. After, I consulted with the very knowledgeable Dr. Nikhil Natayil who gave me a special oil to apply to my lower back and knee. I was sure it wouldn’t help, but it really soothed my pain. To help me sleep, Dr. Nikhil suggested Ashwagandha powder, Indian ginseng, and has been used for stress for thousands of years. He also created a nutrition program for me to follow at home, and while I haven’t yet tried it, I plan to.

After my consultation, I stopped into AyurMa’s gift shop and bought a pair of silky artist-made tights. When I wear them on the streets of Manhattan, everyone wants to know where they can purchase them. Come to the Four Seasons Maldives Landaa Giraavaru, I tell them.

I biked back to my villa to have another swim before changing for dinner, which tonight would be a special outdoor barefoot candlelit beach dinner, and in which, at my request, Alexander, the pastry chef would sing an opera aria – so beautiful it made me cry.

But before heading to dinner, I went back to AyurMa for the Earth Ritual, a daily observance. I was the only guest, though the entire AyurMa staff was there, dressed in white.

Coincidentally, I was wearing a white cotton dress and felt very much part of it. We sat, bare feet in the sand, and sang in the Maldivian language (they gave me a lyric sheet with both the Maldivian and the English):

This is my blessed land

Take care of my blessed land, take care.

This earth, this sky, this sea, this sand

Hold this land in sacredness

My, my, my land.

As we sang, I thought about all I had experienced in only seven days at the three Four Seasons properties. And as our voices drifted up to the heavens, I truly understood that we must hold the earth, the sky, the sea and the sand in sacredness – for ourselves and future generations. I looked around at the lush vegetation and smiling staff and inhaled the fragrance of the blossoms surrounding us. I could not have been in a more beautiful place to understand my role in being a steward of Planet Earth.