Having been grounded since March, most in the Aardvark Safaris’ team have been itching to get back to our favourite destinations. Lucinda managed to escape last week on a holiday to the Maldives. She’s come back full of vim and vigour, and firmly of the opinion that a bit of extra paperwork was amply rewarded – ‘100% worth every minute,’ to be exact.

We thought you might like to read her feedback.

Balmy weather and turquoise seas at Niyama, Maldives

A holiday in the Maldives was always going to be a treat, but this year, after many false starts, my recent week in this island idyll was sheer luxury.

Crystal clear balmy waters and luxury surroundings along with gorgeous scenery and sunny skies combined to give us the chance to switch off completely and have a wonderful rest and reset. Our early morning snorkelling expeditions on the house reef were rewarded with wonderful sightings of turtles (hawksbill and green), rays (eagle and sting), sharks (white tipped, black tipped and nursing), and myriad colourful reef fish. My five year old niece was particularly delighted to learn there is something called a unicorn fish, of which we saw plenty. One morning two inquisitive eagle rays came to check us out – so close we could have reached out to touch them. It was a magical time of day to have this piece of paradise to ourselves.

Many Maldives resorts offer luxurious over water villas. Soneva Jani

The rest of our days were spent swimming, perhaps with some more snorkelling, lying beside one of the various pools, including on our own private deck, reading, chatting, walking round the island, watching boats drift across the horizon and just switching off. Never has doing so little felt so good – and restorative. We did rouse ourselves to take a boat trip to snorkel on another part of the reef, and on outings with a guide we began to learn the names of the various fish we were seeing, and a little about the different corals which make up the reef.

There were numerous activities on offer; kayaks, SUP boards, jet skis, diving, boat trips, water skiing, sailing, fishing, tennis etc, but we somehow never found time in the day to do any of them. Plenty of others were enjoying them all, but having no schedule or pre-determined idea of each day was, for us, perfect.

There’s wonderful snorkelling throughout the Maldives. Como Cocoa Island

My overriding feeling is – if you can go, do!  The Maldives is such a great holiday destination and you’re also supporting everyone who works in these remote and beautiful places, and ensuring conservation work can continue as well.

My top tips for travelling to the Maldives in the Covid era;

– Be organised with booking PCR tests and completing the various different forms.
– Be patient, it might feel like there are extra hoops to go through but everything can be done on-line.
– Be prepared to wear masks in the airport and on planes. On arrival in the resort we put them away for the week – heaven.
– Maldives is on a travel corridor so quarantine is not required on your return.
– Flights with BA, Qatar and Emirates all offer quarantine free options.

The perfect place to relax and reset. One & Only Reethi Rah

We’ve got all the nitty gritty details at our fingertips and will make sure your journey is as hassle free as possible. If you’d like to follow Lucinda’s footsteps on a holiday to the Maldives give us a call, or drop us an email and we’d be delighted to help.

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