Maldives, one of the enthralling and lucrative tourist destinations in the world, is an attractive place for holidaymakers and honeymooners.
CNN International launches a 30-minute program, ‘Reconnect Maldives’, to connect the rest of the world with a less explored face of the Maldives, its culinary secrets, cultural tradition, and unequaled water kingdom.
Baa Atoll, one of the magnificent wildlife spots in Maldives, is home to turtles, dolphins, coral reefs, fish galore, and many more marine lives.
CNN, accompanied by Beth Faulkner, a research guide at the Manta Trust, visits Baa Atoll to explore the conservation charity group that has the largest community of manta rays.
The team played a vital role in including mantas in the National Protected Species List of Maldives and providing legal habitat protection to these marine beings.
The team has partnered with Reefscapers, a global leader in coral conservation. For twenty years, the latter have been planting half a million coral pieces in the Maldivian islands.
CNN focuses next on the diving segment of Maldives. The former interacts with Zoona Naseem, the first woman from the Maldives who attained the rank of a PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) course director.
Zoona Naseem is one among few women who work in the Maldives’ tourism industry. She started Moodhu Bulhaa Dive Centre, a dive school to train children and women to dive deep oceans. The dive center aims to help them love and explore the waters.
CNN explores the cultural richness of the land that makes the Maldives teeming still above the ground, even when it is below sea level.
Boduberu is a centuries-old tradition considered as the soul-giving ritual of Maldivian islands. Faiymini is a boduberu group of Maldives; its founding member is Aishath Hishma. Unlike other boduberu groups, where the troupes consist of men, this group consists of only females.
Another distinct source of surprise in Maldives is its exotic marine food. The Maldivian waters cannot be just limited to a source of scenic beauty, but it’s a rich source of seafood too.
Chef Mohamed Adil, a veteran chef and supervisor of five restaurants at Dhigali, a resort in the Raa Atoll, is on a mission to revive the Maldivian cuisine.
As a part of reviving the ancient Maldivian food traditions, he uses pole and line fishing methods instead of the commercial use of nets.
CNN schedules to telecast the show on three days:
- December 11 at 11:30 am, 11 pm IST
- December 12 at 9:30 am, 4:30 pm IST
- December 13 at 4 am IST
Thus, Maldivian islands are a mix of exoticism, culture, tradition coupled with alabaster white sand beaches, azure blue waters, and elegant sunsets that offer a special spark to our little lives.
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