The Maldives is a great place to play Robinson Crusoe: You can stay on a tiny island that has a soft, sandy beach, a sparkling turquoise lagoon and only a single dwelling (although Crusoe could only have imagined the comfort of some of the better resort hotels). And if you plunge beneath the surface of the lagoon, you'll find extraordinary underwater scenery with an amazing variety of colorful reef fish.
The luxurious escapes you'll find in the Maldives (pronounced MAHL-deeves) are not merely an accident of geography, but a matter of deliberate design. Overwhelmed by an influx of tourists during the 1970s, government leaders created a master plan for the tourist industry, with the aim of emphasizing quality over quantity and minimizing the impact of tourism on the natural—and human—environment. The result was the development of a series of high-quality island resorts that have been cited as models for sustainable tourism development.
These improvements have come at a cost to travelers: The Maldives is not a place for bargain hunters. And you won't be free to travel whereveRead More ... r you wish within the islands—many of them remain off limits to visitors. Tourists are only admitted to certain inhabited islands for brief visits (permits can sometimes be difficult to obtain), supposedly to limit the impact on the traditional Muslim communities and customs. Nevertheless, most travelers will find the unspoiled beauty and serenity they discover in the Maldives to be well worth the cost.The tsunamis of December 2004 caused considerable damage in the Maldives. Many residents from flooded atolls were relocated to other islands, some permanently. The disaster may have a long-term impact on the island nation, which lies less than 8 ft/3 m above sea level. Couple that with worldwide rising sea levels (8 in/18 cm in the last 100 years) and the future does not look so rosy.
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