!!!Southern Maldives. Part II

by Oleg Gaponyuk,
members of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\

14 September 2017

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

The Maldives archipelago consists of 1,190 islands, with the majority of
them, 1,005, being uninhabited. The overall population of the country is
around 400,000 people, but even having 1,500,000 people as tourists
annually these places have preserved their pristine nature.

[{Image src='image1.jpg' caption='Alimatha Island, Southern Maldives' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='513'}]

A new AirPano tour presents two of twenty Maldive atolls: Vaavu Atoll
(also known as Felidhu) and Southern Ari Atoll. The first one is the
smallest administrative atoll in terms of population and land territory.
Five out of nineteen islands are inhabited by less than 2,500 people.
Vaavu Atoll also has the 9 kilometres long egg-shaped Vattaru Reef.

We came to Vaavu in order to capture the chain of the uninhabited
islands lying in the southern and northern parts of the atoll. It is the
place of the habitation of stingrays, hammerhead fish, whitetip reef
sharks and Serranidae species that can exceed in size an adult human
being. One of the brightest natural sights is a huge underwater rock
that is a part of Fottheyo reef: it is carved with caves and tunnels and
covered by rare white coral species. Sometimes inclusions of red and
purple corals can be noticed, and it makes the whole scene especially
spectacular.

[{Image src='image2.jpg' caption='Fotteyo underwater overhangs (Hurahu Kandu)' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='618'}]

The beauty of the local underwater world attracts thousands of divers;
but even being far away from there, you can still "dive" into this world
using panoramas by AirPano.

[{Image src='image3.jpg' caption='Fotteyo underwater overhangs (Hurahu Kandu)' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='601'}]

Southern Ari Atoll, also called Alifu Dhaalu, is located north-west of
Vaavu and is a part of the large natural Ari Atoll. It is an extensive
archipelago having an oval form and stretching through 33 kilometres
east to west and 96 kilometres south to north. It is composed of dozens
of small islands with only 18 of them being inhabited and 28 being
resort zones. Some islands are connected by bridges, making it possible
to travel between islands on foot or using a bike!

[{Image src='image4.jpg' caption='Ari Atoll, Southern Maldives' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='588'}]

Ari is the most ancient part of the country: its islands were inhabited
about 1,400 years ago during the "Buddhist" period of the Maldives. Some
monuments of that time have remained till nowadays. For the needs of
tourism, outstanding beaches and numerous marine reserves with reef
sharks, tunas, lionfishes, muraenas, parrotfishes, huge hump-head
wrasses that can be 2.5 meters long, turtles and many other marine
species were created, and the bottom of the ocean features many
shipwrecks.

Have a tour to these marvellous places together with AirPano!

[{Image src='image5.jpg' caption='Laccadive Sea, Southern Maldives' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='554'}]

We will publish the third part of travel to Southern Maldives soon.
Meanwhile you can have a look at other panoramas of Maldive Islands:

1. Southern Maldives. Part I

2. Maldives, Anantara Kihavah and Gili Lankanfushi

3. Maldives. W Retreat & Spa

4. Manta Rays, Maldives

5. Maldives, One&Only Reethi-Rah. Split-panoramas

6. Maldive Islands

7. Underwater Maldives. Stingray

8. Underwater Shooting on the Maldives. Coral reefs

9. Underwater Shooting on the Maldives. Divers

10. Night Maldives

11. Maldives from the plane

\\ \\
[6 Panoramas of Southern Maldives. Part II|Geography/Asia/Maldives/Pictures/Panoramas_of_Southern_Maldives_Part_II]










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