Maldives Hotels - Maldives hotels are dotted all over the various atolls. Information on hotels from Lhaviyani atoll hotels, Male hotels north and south, Ari atoll hotels, Baa atoll and other Maldives hotels. There is also a tsunami Maldives page to give you a rough idea on what hotels are still up and running.
The Nilandhoo Atoll page gives extended details of the background to atolls, where to stay and links to the Vilu Reef Beach and Velavaru Island resorts at Nilandhoo Atoll.
There are two main hotels on Nilandhoo Atoll - please see links opposite
Atolls
The names of Atolls, islands and coral reefs of the Maldives have a curios mixture of spellings, resulting in many
simplifications to make names more readable. In some cases, original meanings of words have also been changed. For
instance, the word "Atoll" is the only word in the English Language of Dhivehi origin, coming from the word "Atholhu.
The Oxford definition of an "Atoll" is a "ring-shaped coral reef enclosing a lagoon". However, an Atholhu is an
administrative district, sometimes covering more, or less, than one "Atoll".
Nilandhoo Atoll
Dhaalu Atoll, also known as Nilandhoo South Atoll is 150 kilometres from Male and measures 38 kilometres in length
and 23 kilometres in width. With about 46 islands in all, eight are inhabited.
The Nilandhoo Atoll was recently opened up for
tourism and the two islands designated for the purpose started operations.
Although diving in the atoll began only
recently, it is already known that the atoll offers excellent dive sites. The resorts on Nilandhoo Atoll are located in the northeast
corner of the atoll, which many believe has the best potential for diving. Something special about the atoll, which
has already been found, is the number of turtles seen during dives anywhere in the Nilandhoo Atoll.
Vilu Reef Beach and Spa Resort - The Vilu Reef Beach and Spa Resort page gives extended details of the beautiful island facilities with access to prices and bookings for the Vilu Reef Beach and Spa Resort.
Velavaru Island Resort - The Velavaru Island resort page features the facilities at the Maldive Velavaru Island resort with accommodation details and access to online prices and bookings.
More background on Nilandhoo
Atoll and Atoll in general
Different maps of the Maldives rarely have the same spellings. On some, Ihavandhippolhu Atoll, at the very north of the
Maldives, is sometimes named Ihavandiffulhu Atoll. The original meaning of "polhu" is portion, and refers to the upper
portion of islands in the Maldives; whereas "fulhu" is the name of a person. Felidhe-Atholhu is the old name of the
Atoll now called Felidhoo Atoll. It is sometimes abbreviated to Felidhu Atoll. Likewise Nilandhe-Atholhu is an old
Atoll name which is also called Nilandhoo Atoll. Huvadhoo Atoll in the south is sometimes named on maps as Suvadiva
Atoll, which is another more recent name and Goidhoo Atoll is also called Horsburgh Atoll.
Island names can often be traced to a particular characteristic of an island. For instance, Thundufushi is an island
in Ari Atoll. "Thundu" means edge, or point, and this island lays on the eastern point of the reef. Other island
names refer to an incident that may have occurred there. "Dhehasanu Lonu Bui Huraa", is an island in Ari Atoll and is
an old name meaning "two (men named Hasan) drink salt water island". Other islands and reefs are old words of
Sinhalese origin. Names like Lankafinolhu, Vihamanaafushi and Furanafushi are examples.
Reef names, too, can have interesting origins. Himmiyafaru, in north west Male' Atoll, can tell fishermen much about
the reef. "Himmi" means the gap between two objects and in this case the reef is divided into two parts by water..
Another reef with a story is Koonimasfaru, in the north of Male' Atoll. "Koonimasfaru means spoiled fish reef. It
is widely believed that a whale was caught inside the lagoon and became stranded and died when the tide receded. The
resultant smell is said to have drifted across to the island of Gaafaru, thus giving the reef its name.
Many islands, like Vihamanaafushi, Velassaru, and Medhu Finolhu, have adopted new names since the arrival of tourism.
They are now called Kurumba Village, Laguna Beach Resort and Reethi Rah Resort respectively, but many locals still
call them by their traditional names.
The most relevant links we could find, placed here free
Back
Maldives Hotels Travel Guide
Site written by Steve Dickson