Tens of thousands of tales emerge from Storytellers’ Conference, a unique promotional event, hosted by Visit Maldives gathering over 80 journalists and social media influencers from across the globe.

Amazing white sandy beaches, azure-blue, crystal clear waters, green swaying palms and dozens of ultra-luxury resorts that are amongst the favourite jaunts of the global celebrities.

To most international travellers, including your correspondent, Maldives was just that. Nothing more, nothingless.

But, at least your correspondent is much the wiser, after returning recently from the Storytellers’ Conference, hosted by Visit Maldives.

Maldives is much more than a pristine and prestigious destination, it is a land of thousand tales. It seems that each of the nearly 1200 islands here has several stories to recount, about the land, its people, its verdant nature and its rich terrestrial and marine biodiversity.

But first the tale about my own journey there. I had already been mesmerised by the beauty of Maldives from the numerous reels and images that I had been seeing on the Instagram accounts of numerous celebrities. Yet, I was little prepared for how much more beautiful the country actually is.

Even as my aircraft made its final turn before it began its approach towards the Malé airport, the sight below left me stunned. Even from a relatively high altitude, I could see the clear waters, the beaches and the vibrant greenery all around. The seduction was complete by the time the plane touched down on tarmac and I kept my eyes glued to the pretty sights zipping past me. In hindsight, it would have to be perhaps the most beautiful landing that I have ever made.

But there was more to come. After collecting my baggage, as I boarded the speedboat to take me to my hotel, Hard Rock Hotel in Akasdhoo, South Male Atoll, which is the first integrated resort in the country, over the next 15 minutes, I was completely hypnotised, not just by the incredibly beautiful sights all around me, but also by the exceptional warmth and the grace of the Maldivian people.

As I was being driven to the resort’s lobby for check in, I was preceded by a couple of Maldivians beating drums in a traditional welcome reserved for important guests to let the villagers know of their arrival.

After checking in, with a glass of the sparkling bubbly in my hand, I went to the balcony and spent a long moment, taking in the view from my spacious room, registering it in my mind as much as in my heart.

I quickly dressed for the evening and rushed to join the Opening Cocktail, organised by the hosts, Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation or Visit Maldives, for the 80-odd invitees, who had been carefully selected from around the world by the tourism promotion body for the Storytellers’ Conference.

It was during this evening that my first introduction to Maldivian music and dance, key elements of any culture, took place. Though brief, it was fine with me as it was just the beginning of my trip and I knew that over the next few days, I would have a unique, once in a lifetime experience of a deep dive in the culture of the archipelago and get to know a lot of its people, hailing from different spheres of life, giving me a kaleidoscopic view of the country and its people.

After the welcome reception, I went straight to the bed and before long, I was rocked into a deep and dreamless sleep by the soothing sounds of gentle waves of the Indian Ocean lapping the beach, just metres away from my bed.

Refreshed as much by my relaxing sleep, as a paradisiacal sight from my balcony that greeted me, I began my day on a chirpy mode and began my preparations to explore the country and its culture.

The first programme on the agenda of the day was the inauguration of the Storytellers’ Conference 2023 by our host Thoyyib Mohamed, Managing Director and CEO of MMPRC, who began by underlining the importance of tourism for the country, which is by far the largest sector of its economy, and the complete transformation of Maldives in the past few years.

He told the participants, a mix of content creators, journalists, bloggers, and industry professionals from across the world, that over the next few days they would have an immersive experience to discover and share the wonders of Maldives.

He said that the Storytellers’ Conference was organised in a unique format, which involved having a main half-day session on a beach, with a laid-back, yet thought-provoking atmosphere, styled under Maldives’ concept of redefining MICE. The format was something that MICE organisers from around the world could indeed take inspiration from.

The conference sessions delved into various topics such as sustainable tourism, responsible travel, cultural preservation, and the power of storytelling to inspire and promote destinations. After the plenary session, that also had other remarkable speaker like former Indian diplomat-turned-author Vikas Swarup, as Thoyyib had promised, we broke for a delicious beachside lunch, to recongregate for the second part of the formal conference programme, the breakout sessions.

Breakout sessions

For the breakout sessions, the participants had been divided into three groups, each with a different focus theme of discussions and experiences. My session was ‘Sail the Seas of Time: Thousands of Years of Maldivian History’ and which as the title suggests took me and my group members on a journey in the past as we got to learn about the unique culture, heritage, and traditions of the Maldives – one of the most ancient seafaring cultures of the world.

If so far I had only been amazed by the natural beauty of the country, now it was time for me to be equally enthralled by its cultural diversity and the wealth of its traditions, which have over the course of over 1,000 years, been deeply influenced by a whole host of other cultures, notably Indian, Arabic and African. Not only in their customs, cuisine or culture do you find traces of different parts of the world, but also in the physical traits of the Maldivian population.

I for one got to witness and experience a lot of this well-preserved cultural heritage. First on the agenda was a performance of traditional dhandi jehun dance. Next we also visited a thatched house, reflecting the way Maldivian houses were built in the eras gone by. Here, some of the local women were busy weaving coir ropes, while others displayed the ancient Maldivian embroidery weaving or Kasabu Viyun.

One of the most interesting parts of the entire session was the rendering of the tale of unfortunate lovers, Dhon Hiyala and Alifulhu, whose romance ended as tragically as that of many others like Romeo and Juliet in Europe or Soni and Mahilwal in India. After the performance, following another Maldivian tradition, we were given palm leaves on which to make our wishes and plant them on the shoreline.

After a gala dinner, that featured a melange of occidental and local music and songs, to conclude the conference and its breakout sessions, the storytellers were divided into separate groups and sent to different parts of the country for sideline experiences.

Sideline experiences

Next morning, I, along with my team mates, headed to my new home in Maldives, the Barefoot Eco Hotel, located on Hanimaadhoo Island in Haa Dhaalu Atoll in the rather off-beat and hence well-preserved northern part of Maldives.

To get there, we headed to the Male airport and boarded the turboprops of the Maldivian, the national carrier. The 55-minute flight passed in a jiffy as I was completely lost in the amazing sights below, with rainbows and numerous small islets below me. After a short ride in the speedboat, that seems mandatory on this dispersed archipelago we reached our hotel at the Hanimaadhoo Island.

Welcomed with garlands and a refreshing coconut water, I went to my room, to be again floored by the fitments and the view, besides the size of the room. After a satiating lunch, as if to digest our meals, we headed on a bicycle tour of the island, where we got a complete orientation about the island, its population, culture and the uniqueness of Hanimaadhoo. We also visited several parts including schools and important buildings on the island.

Though we were still full from our copious lunch, we were offered some snacks at the house of one of the locals, before pedalling back to the hotel.

After a short break, which I used to explore the resort and the surroundings, we headed for a sunset cruise, on board a traditional Maldivian boat, the Dhaoni. After about 15 minutes as the boat had reached a fair distance in the sea, the captain shut off the engine and cast anchor. It was far out in the sea, enough to keep the sounds from the land, out of earshot, but allowing us to watch the coast from the boat.

It was an ethereal experience as we waited for the sun to actually go below the horizon. There was no noise of any kind, with the only sounds coming from the gentle waves hitting our boat.

Though I was conversing with my group members, I was more lost in the incredibly beautiful ambience that I found myself in. As time went by, the colours all around me changed rapidly. While the sea became darker blue with each passing minute, the sky donned dark orange hues.

After sometime, as the sun set, we headed back to the coast for another hearty meal, while talking with the hotel officials who briefed us about the marine life around.

The next morning, the hotel organised a yoga session for us with a trainer from Kerala who taught some basic asanas. Then it was time for breakfast and then we headed out to the sea again, but this time to do something more than just sit in the boat and watch the sunset. It was time for some snorkelling.

Snorkelling in the seas

As I had never snorkelled before, I had mixed emotions at that moment.

As I am always seeking out adventure and thrill, I was excited about it, but also had a slight fear as I was not confident about my swimming skills, since swimming in a hotel pool is vastly different from swimming in the vast Indian Ocean. As usual, the adventure seeker in me won the contest and I donned the snorkelling gear, put the fins on my feet and jumped in the Ocean.

Yet, to ensure that I did not drift too far away from the boat, I agreed to holding a string attached to our guide who was taking us to show corals and marine life around our diving spot. The moment I was in the water, I knew it was the right decision. The water was crystal clear and the day bright, allowing me to see to a fair depth in the ocean and then I slowly let myself sink in, to get a closer look at the corals and all the kinds of marine animals, including turtles, a sting-ray and an amazing variety of colourful fish all around me.

Mysteries of Utheemu Palace

After about an hour of snorkelling, we came back to the hotel. Next on the agenda was a visit to Utheemu island, another small island, where we welcomed by a group of young girls in red carrying bouquets for us and of course the ubiquitous coconut water, which is always welcome as it is one of the best ways to keep oneself hydrated in the heat.

We were given a tour of the island and its important monuments, including the mosque, with the locals explaining their culture and activities, during the visit.

Utheemu has a special place in the history of Maldives. For it is on this island that Mohammed Thakurufaanu, perhaps the best known Maldivian hero, was born. The Portuguese had occupied Maldives in the year 1558 and Thakurufaanu, along with his brothers mounted repeated guerrilla raids on the Portuguese, striking them and escaping. After a five-year battle, Thakurufaanu liberated Maldives and was appointed the Sultan by a grateful people.

One of the most startling parts of this was visiting the Utheemu Palace, by far the best known building on the island. The palace, a simple wooden house, is where Sultan Mohammed Thakurufaanu and his family had lived.

Over five centuries later, the house has been very well preserved, retaining many of its original fitments and keeping the original identity intact, with its white curtains, wooden beds and antique lamps.

There are a couple of mysteries at Utheemu Palace. As was the tradition in many countries, including India, the house was divided into two sections, with the interior part reserved for women and the men living on the outer side, as a means of protection of the womenfolk.

Even though it is like any other door of the house, one of the outside doors cannot be opened, even though it has not been sealed shut and neither is there anything blocking it. Our guide tells us that everyone has tried to open the door, using all their force, but no one has managed to open it in the past five centuries.

This is not the only mystery of this door and the palace. There are a few small holes in the door and the curtain behind it, inside the men’s section, casts an inverted shadow of anyone outside the house, functioning like a security device or a closed circuit television camera. The effect, though magical when you are inside the house, is simple physics at work since the hole and the curtain make it work like a pin-hole camera.

After the visit to Utheemu Palace and enchanting us with the historical tales associated with it, displaying the famous Maldivian hospitality, the locals invited us to the beachside, where they had very thoughtfully put up a nice spread of some traditional Maldivian snacks and beverages, pretty much in the style of a High Tea in England.

After returning to our hotel, when we gathered for dinner after a short break, we were told that the hotel had organised a Maldivian Night for us. Everything that we partook that evening was Maldivian. After we had filled ourselves to the seams on a lavish spread of a variety of Maldivian cuisine, we were treated to an excellent cultural night.

As there is nothing like experiencing the culture and traditions of any country through its music and dance and that was exactly what our hosts had lined up for us that evening.

The performances included dancers holding a small piece of cloth and the interactive dance meant that anyone who received the cloth from the dancer had to get up and join the dance.

So graceful were the dancers and so soothing was the music, the traditional boduberu, where the slow and meditative drum beats steadily increase in tempo to an ardent, heart-thumping cadence, that none of the guests could refuse to join the dance, when asked by the dancers.

Next morning, after breakfast we went to snorkel, but this time with the added attraction of snorkelling around a shipwreck. As this was my second experience, I was feeling much more confident than the day earlier. To add to the excitement of the day, we were greeted by a pod or a school of playful dolphins, jumping out of water, near our boat.

As we approached the shipwreck, known as the Filladhoo shipwreck, we could see four metallic pillars, protruding about a metre above the water. Once we reached the site, it was time to go in the water again and I did not hesitate for a moment, before taking the plunge.

And this time, I also swam on my own, exploring the shipwreck which over the years had become home to a rich marine life. Since the ship, a cargo vessel, has been lying at the same spot for over 60 years, its entire surface was full of colonies of barnacles that had made the drowned ship their home. As the water was clear, we could see a number of marine animals, including various types of turtles, eels, eagle rays and dozens of smaller, colourful fish, which I could only admire from the surface. Though the wreck is also frequented by sharks, fortunately or unfortunately, we did not spot any that day.

After about two hours of exploring the shipwreck and the marine life inhabiting the waters around, it was time to get back.

After returning to the hotel, we had to pack our bags and go on another discovery. So we got on a boat to go to Hondaafushi Island Resort, which was a huge property, spread over a massive 59 hectares and with bungalows for accommodation.

The resort, set on an island that resembles a tropical jungle as it has large patches of trees that seem densely packed together, comes with all the amenities that a guest can seek in a luxury resort today. But one of the most appealing places in the resort is its free-form infinity-edge swimming pool, that is set adjacent to the sea, and comes complete with a swim-up bar. With so many plusses, it is the perfect vantage point to relax.

After the tour of the hotel, we went to a sandbank, a marvellous geographical feature that makes for an ideal set for photoshoots and activities in the middle of the sea. So amazing was the sight and the experience, that all of us broke into a dance on the sandbank.

After enjoying for some more time the sight and silence around us, we headed back to the hotel, where it was time for dinner.

As it was my last night on this dream vacation, I wanted to take in the ambience and the beauty of Maldives as much as possible. After a long while, I drifted into sleep, helped by the gentle lullabies of the sea and the wind.

Next morning, after breakfast as we boarded the small turbo-prop aircraft to take us to Male Airport, I was wondering if memories occupied space, just like clothes or shoes in my bag, then not only this turboprop, but even an A380 would not be big enough for me to fit in all the lovely memories of Maldives and its people that I was taking back with me.