On this trip we stayed on a local island in a guest house for two weeks with the Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme, we'll cover the programme itself in as other post. Local Island living is different enough for me to write about and I am sure that some of you who've visited a resort island will be surprised to know that the Maldives is a modest Islamic society.
Firstly before we arrived we were briefed on some of the rules we had to adhere to on local islands;
- Men and women must be covered from the neck to the knees at all times, with short sleeved garments (no vests) and nothing sheer or see through.
- Alcohol is strictly prohibited
- Relationships are still viewed traditionally, so a date is seen as a sign of a more serious relationship. Physical touching or signs of affection are not seen is public. And any over friendly relationships between you and any residents of the island will be viewed in a bad light.
Most of the staff in the guest house we stay in are male, when we sit in a cafe or coffee place all the other patrons are male. When we sat for a couple of (soft) drinks in a local cafe I couldn't help but notice that most of the men in there drinking drift away, is it because I'm a female or just because it's around dinner time? All the women are fully covered up and wearing headscarves, they are generally quite and more in the background but are very friendly when you do interact with them.
The men are out fishing, working, building, and working away at the resorts.
Women are out cleaning the communal areas of the island, working in the forests to collect fruits and materials and (I guess) cooking and cleaning etc in the home. We often spot groups of ladies alone or with their children going for a fully clothed dip in the sea!
We had a chat with a local man who co owned the cafe on the island and was also in the process of building a competitor guest house to the one we were staying in. He had previously worked at a resort and had learned a lot there about how to keep western visitors happy and entertained (he offered us a speed boat to get us "anything we wanted" during the conversation and I hope he meant alcohol! We didn't take him up on the offer). He explained the social impact of having so many people away working at resorts, where they only get one day off a month, has on the community as they can only ever get everyone together once a year for Eid. He also talked about how the community worked a bit like a cooperative earning money by visiting resorts for cultural shows or hosting resort visitors for trips to see local culture which contributed to the building of the community centre, medical centre and water treatment and storage facilities. He is hoping to expand his business empire with a shop for the weekly visits from resort tourists and another cafe by the harbour, which the volunteer groups would love after a long day on the boat!
The island is totally geared up for the weekly visit from resort tourists; all the shops open, culture shows of dancing and drumming, displays on the high street, and of course raised prices! It's great to see so many good ideas to attract trade and tourists to the local island, they are tapping into the diving and backpacking community as people who want to visit the Maldives for the experience and wildlife not for an all inclusive or 5 star resort. There are two dive centres on the island and many of the guests at our guest house were there to dive.
The other thing you don't really see or experience on a resort is the difficulties in supplying energy and getting rid of rubbish. We took a 2 and a half hour walk to the end of the island and back we found the two diesel generators that take it in turns to power the island (occasionally not overlapping leading to power cuts and surges). The Maldivian government has a target of being cannot neutral by 2020 and I can't quite see how if they have generators powering everything, but given the highest point on the islands is 4 meters above sea level they do have skin in the game to help reduce climate change (incidentally the government has negotiated land in Sri Lanka and Australia for homeless Maldivian people should their islands disappear).
We also walked past open, burning landfill sites which is how they dispose of their rubbish. There is limited recycling but also a lot of recyclable items could be seen being burnt. If you do come here take your rubbish and empty bottles of sun cream etc home is all I would say!
Finally you may not notice but resort islands have people constantly cleaning up the island and particularly the beaches; of seaweed, washed up jelly fish but mostly rubbish and plastic water bottles... There were thousands of plastic bottles, as well as rope, nets, cans, flip flops and all sorts of detritus...
I personally enjoyed seeing a realistic picture of the country, the resort experience being very much the same atmosphere as you get in resorts anywhere just with the brilliant Maldivian sun, sand and sea life. If you want to come here to dive, see the marine life or have a relaxing break without all you can eat buffets and endless cocktails it's the perfect way to do it.
I feel so glad that I have had the chance to see more of the real Maldives, it's so beautiful and the marine wildlife is utterly amazing. Do seriously consider shunning the resorts for a equally beautiful, more Maldivian and cheaper trip!
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