Interseting facts

10 Interesting Facts about the Mladives

1. Maldives is Asia's smallest country in terms of population and also land area.
2. Only 200 hundred of the Maldives are islands and 1192 are inhabited.
3. The Maldives was the first country in the world to have an official presidential meeting underwater.
4. Wilingili islands in the Addu Atoll is the highest point in the Maldives, its 7 feet and 11 inches above sea level.
5. Is also known to hold the record for being the flattest country in the world.
6. There have been several predictions that the Maldives are going to get swept away by the rising water levels in the Indian Ocean.
7. Maldives is one of the most muslamic countrys in the world.
8. Portuguese have been the occupation of Maldives for 15 years in the 16th century, but Maldives has also been an independent state all these years.
9. It has been ranked the best country with beautiful beaches and a great place for relaxation.
10. And in the following year 2008 Maldvies were also ranked second best country for having natural beauty and third best for thier resorts.

Places of Interest

The top six places to visit in the Maldives are:

1. Male is the capital of the maldives and it is a small island around one kilometer long and two kilometers wide. It is home to the national museum in Sultan park.

2. Seenu Atoll is known as the second city of the maldives. It is one of the major tourist destionataions in Maldives.

3. Naifaru, Maldives is a romantic island that couples would go for there honeymoons or families would go to relax and take a break from the hard work life in Australia or from where ever you came from. The white silver beaches, blue water and the big sand mountains for the kids to enjoy on.

4.Thinadhoo, Maldives are located 78 kilometers from Male. This Island is full of GREEN trees and fully grown trees. This area is free of pollution  and it is fully shaded  there wont be any fights over who gets what spot. 

5.Fuamulaku  is known throughout the Maldives for its Fruit and vegie farms. Taste the localy grown Pineapples, Mangos and Oranges and you will be in heaven. It is a great spot to visit if you are into fruit and vegtables.

6.Kudahuvadhoo Island is located in South Nilandhoo Atoll  some of the unique mounds are found here it is possible to think that they are from earlier Buddhist temples.

Major Religions and Festivals

The major religion in the Maldives is Islam. The people of the Maldives are very religious and like to pray five times a day in the mosque. They also have a strong belief in the afterlife there is an opinion that decides on whether the person goes to heaven or hell baised on the deeds they have done. Islamic was introduced to the Maldives in 1153, all children are taught this religion at home from a very young age and is also apart of the school curriculum.

Major Festivals

Eid-Ul-Adha -  Is one of the major festivals that happen in the Maldives, it is also known to be the festival of sacrifice. And is celebrated on the 10th day of Thul Hijjah on the muslim calendar.

 

Kude Eid- Is an important religious festival that celebrates the end of Ramadan as they have been islamic fasting for a month, it is also known as the Fithru Eid festival. It usually falls on the first day of Shawaal on the islamic calendar and runs for three days.

Ramadan - This festival also known as 'Rorda Mas' is one of the most well known and important festivals that the Maldavian people celebrate there 30 days of fasting, it falls on the ninth month of the islamic calander.

Independance Day - Maldives independance day always fall on July the 26th. This day has a lot of significance as it represents the day the country got their freedom from the British.

26 December 2004 Tsunami

On the 26 of December 2004 the Maldives were destroyed by a tsunami caused by the Indian Ocean earthquake.
Nine of the Islands were reported to have escaped any type of flooding.
Fifty-seven Islands were reported with serious damage.
Fourteen Islands were totally evacuated.
Six Islands were destroyed.
Twenty-one Islands were forced to close because of the damage.
The damage total was around US$400million
One hundred and eight people including six foreigners were reported to have died during the tsunami.

The waves were coming at over 14 feet high (4.3m)

Directions on how to get there

The way to travel to the maldives from Port Hedland is by plane. You fly to Perth on Qantas in Eocony class for $249 return then you can stay for a night or however many nights you want to stay in perth for in the  hotel near the airport called Crowne Plaza in the King delux Spa suite for $383.000 per night. That includes airport transport to and from the airport.

When you book the flights you can either book fisrt class for $11189.76per person or business class for $7939.76per person or Eocnomy class for $2299.76 per person. But if you are flying with children under the age of 12 and over the age of 2 than first class for them would be $1142.76per child, business class would be $5945.76per child and eoconomy would be $1715.76per child. Mind you these are all return flights back to Perth. This flight is a connecting flight so it is a 10hr and 55min flight to Dudai and than from Dubai it is about 4hrs and 5mins to Male in the Maldives

Climate

The climate in the Maldives are usually warm all year round, but it also depends on the monsoons. From May - October usually only brings wind and rain but during April - November its the dry season only coming with very little wind. Overall the daily annual temperature can get up to a maximum of 30.4 degrees celcius and a minnimum of 25.9 degrees celcius.



BEST TIME TO TRAVEL THE MALDIVES

If you enjoy having fun in the sun the best time of the year to visit would be through Decmember to April which is the dry seasons. But if you would also like the a few rainy days then you would most likely to visit during May to November. However with the Maldives being on the equator and being such a tropical island it wouldnt really matter which seasons to go, with having at least 2704.07 hours of sunshine each year, which will give you plenty of time to play valleyball, watersports, diving and snorkeling that will leave you speechless.

Currency and Language

Currency
Maldavian Rafiya is the local currency all people use while over there. Rafiya comes in notes which consist of MRf500, 100, 50, 20, 10, 5 and also coins that are very simmilar too what we use in Australia, 1,50, 25, 10, 5, 2,1 and laari. Well known currencys from across the world will all be accepted to be exchanged at banks, hotels, shops, and different tourist resort islands.



Exchange Rate to Australia
The money exchange rate lately has been for every Australian $1.00 you'll be getting 15.54 Maldives Rufiya, but it also changes quite frequently as well.


Language
The official language that is used over in the Maldives is Maldavian Dhivehi. But there are also known to be borrowings from Hindi, Arabic and many other countries. English is spoken and used quite frequently over there, especially in the tourism industry. If your also wondeirng about how you can communicate to others out of the country the specific phone code for the Maldives is 960, mobile coverage is very good through out the whole island and if you really wanted you can hire out handsets.

Location

The Maldives are located in the Indian ocean south- west of Sri Lanka and south-west of India. It is located west of Australia.

The capital of the Maldives in Male. The main ocean around the Maldives is the Indian Ocean. There are no rivers or major waterways around the islands. Major landforms are there beaches and coral reefs in the Indian Ocean.