Maldives Male City Tour Part 2 | Park | Beach

Maldives is one of the smallest countries of the world. But, but, Maldives is 99 freakin’ times bigger than Central Park, NY. In your face, Central Park! Maldives does not appear on most maps. For example, take this map of Asia from geology.com, can you see the Maldives? Nope. It should be below the lowest tip of India, a little to the left. Fortunately, this ‘trend’ or ‘ignorance’ is fading slowly. Map ‘artists’ are starting to realize our existence. Maldives has a population of about 400,000 (an overestimation). Maldives has one of the highest literacy rates in the world (about 98%—but this information is a bit old) The capital of Maldives (called Male’, pronounced somewhat like Maa (as in mast) le (as in LeBron James) is one of the most densely populated cities of the Maldives. Maldives has 1192 islands, of which around 200 are inhabited, around 100 are used as tourist resorts. The rest are either used for agricultural, industrial purposes, or as picnic islands or not used at all. Maldives doesn’t have four seasons. We just have a rainy season (or a monsoon) and a sunny season. It never gets as hot as it gets during summer in other countries, or as cold as winter. 99% of the Maldivian area is sea. 1% is land. Maldives is officially a 100% Muslim country. Maldives is one of the lowest lying countries of the world. We would be among the first that will be affected by any raising of the sea levels. Boats (called Dhoni) and speedboats are our main means of travel. Meaning, that we use boats to travel to other islands. If the distance is far, and it is available, we use planes. • Our economy mostly depends of tourism and fishing. • Maldives is considered among the countries with the most beautiful beaches (and coral reefs!). • • Fish is our main food. Most of our food includes fish (or one of its ‘derivatives’) in some form. • The islands of the Maldives are very small. Want to get to the beach? Walk for five minutes in any direction. • We have our own language, which is not spoken in any other country in the world. It is called Dhivehi. Most of the Maldivians speak English, as most of students are taught in English medium and takes a UK-based exam to get O level and A level certificates after secondary and higher secondary education. • The islands are divided (geographically) into groups called atoll (which is an English world derived from our language—so they say). • More than a third of the population lives in the capital, Male’. • We have had a president for 30 years (from 1978–2008). After him, we have had 3 more in the last 9 years. • We have the biggest fleet of sea planes in the world. Maldives is one of the favorite honeymoon destinations of the world. Our currency is called Rufiyaa (MVR). 1 USD = 15.42 MVR.