Sirru Fen Fushi: an idyllic Maldives hideaway for eco-conscious travellers
The Maldives has always been the ultimate luxury destination for dedicated sun seekers who want to be treated like royalty. But with the archipelago's very existence under threat from climate change, it is now redefining itself as a pioneer in sustainable travel. Sirru Fen Fushi, a remote island in the Shaviyani Atoll of the Indian Ocean, is leading the way for eco-conscious travellers.
With its buttery soft sand, candy coloured sunsets and glittering turquoise sea, Sirru Fen Fushi is the picture-perfect idyll that comes to mind when you imagine the Maldives. But its commitment to sustainability is what sets it apart from the pack. The resort has a sustainability lab that is a hive of eco activity. It participates in regular beach clean-ups and converts the plastic it finds in the lab into colourful items like bracelets, sports paddles and even bins.
Guests can buy these as souvenirs or take part in daily workshops to create a turtle keychain, make a bracelet out of ghost nets (discarded fishing nets that are banned in the Maldives because they're dangerous to marine life) or fashion a plastic sheet that they can take home to craft their own items. Around the island, you'll see chairs and tables made from this colourful recycled plastic with its bright splash of Jackson Pollock-esque patterns.
The resort also houses the world's first underwater museum, the Coralarium, designed by British sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor as part of the resort's major coral regeneration project. The 20ft metal cube juts out of the calm lagoon, a habitat for the abundant sea life that floats around it. Guests can take part in coral planting, swimming out with a fragment of coral to add to a frame that is part of the Coralarium – it's a lovely way to leave your own little mark while helping to conserve ocean life.
There's a bohemian spirit to the decor of the resort's beach and over the water villas, which combine wooden furnishings decorated with geometric patterns with rose-gold mirrors and playful elements like a giant light fitting made of rope shaped like a bulb. I stayed in a beach villa that had dizzyingly high ceilings and a massive outdoor space featuring a pool, sunbeds and a double sunbed meaning you never had to leave your space.
Personalised bikes are assigned to each guest so you can zip through the island in no time. The Onu Onu bar is the buzzy hub with a steady flow of dance music throughout the day and beach beds. The resort also features the longest infinity pool in the Maldives, measuring 200m, although it's split into sections. At the end the Coralarium stands in the distance, lit up like the island's own sparkly Eiffel Tower, bathed in different colours during the evening.
The resort takes an international approach to its cuisine with Raha Market at the heart of its culinary operation. The restaurant serves a hearty, ever rotating spread for breakfast, lunch and dinner with the option to order à la carte. For breakfast, I wolfed down plump dumplings, porridge with fuchsia pink dragon fruit slices and almond-milk yoghurt with chia seeds and mango. I enjoyed prawns with glass noodles in a zingy dressing and a fresh watermelon juice for lunch at Spice Box, its Asian food stall right on the beach.
There are other dining options if Raha Market doesn't take your fancy. At Azure, which offers Mediterranean dishes with a focus on seafood and meat, I feasted on gambas al ajillo, juicy prawns swimming in a tangy garlic sauce, and a lobster chargrilled to springy perfection with fries and salad. While at the Japanese restaurant Kata, I devoured tender octopus with garlic fried rice and the fluffiest cheesecake with berry compote and vanilla ice cream. Both Azure and Kata have beautiful outdoor seating areas perched right on top of the sea, colourful fish wiggling below.
The resort's remote location means there is very little light pollution making it a great spot for stargazing at night. After the sun sets, stars scatter the inky night sky, a cascade of twinkling jewels. Sirru Fen Fushi offers regular stargazing sessions so you can learn the name of the shimmering constellation winking above you. They take place at the top of Kata restaurant with wicker beds in place so you can lie back as an astronomer points out the planets Mars, Venus and Jupiter as well as constellations like Orion and newly formed stars.
You get the chance to see these up close too through a powerful telescope and I gasped as I was shown the moon; it was so clear I could see every dusty crater. The Maldives has a way of humbling you with its incredible surrounding nature and the stargazing session had a similar effect. It's a fascinating way to spend an evening that makes you think about your place in the universe.
But if all that sounds a touch too strenuous, Arufen Spa has one of the largest jacuzzis in the Maldives and there's an array of wonderful massages on offer to soothe the weariest of jetlagged bodies. There are excursions available too if you can face tearing yourself away from the island; I went on a dolphin cruise on a dhoni, a traditional boat crafted from coconut wood, where I was reduced to a squealing kid as several dolphins swam alongside us, bobbing and weaving as they danced among the waves like impish synchronised swimmers.
Sirru Fen Fushi is the perfect escape for eco-conscious travellers who want to take an active part in giving back to the nature that surrounds them. The Maldives takes green tourism seriously and the resort offers sun, sea and sustainability. What else do you need for a relaxing holiday?
Ann Lee was a guest at Sirru Fen Fushi – Private Lagoon Resort. Room rates start from £965 (exclusive of service and VAT) in a Beach Sunrise Villa on half board.
Virgin Atlantic flies direct between London Heathrow and Malé, the capital of the Maldives, with return fares from £757.
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EDINBURGH, Scotland -- Lashed by cold winds and overlooking choppy, steel-gray North Sea waters, the breathtaking sand dunes of Scotland's northeastern coast rank among Donald Trump 's favorite spots on earth. 'At some point, maybe in my very old age, I'll go there and do the most beautiful thing you've ever seen," Trump said in 2023, during his New York civil fraud trial, talking about his plans for future developments on his property in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire. At 79 and back in the White House, Trump is making at least part of that pledge a reality, traveling to Scotland on Friday as his family's business prepares for the Aug. 13 opening of a new course it is billing as 'the greatest 36 holes in golf." While there, Trump will talk trade with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a meeting he's said will take place at 'probably one of my properties.' 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Trump's existing Aberdeenshire course, meanwhile, has a history nearly as rocky as the area's cliffs. It has struggled to turn a profit and was found by Scottish conservation authorities to have partially destroyed nearby sand dunes. Trump's company also was ordered to cover the Scottish government's legal costs after the course unsuccessfully sued over the construction of a nearby wind farm, arguing in part that it hurt golfers' views. And the development was part of the massive civil case, which accused Trump of inflating his wealth to secure loans and make business deals. Trump's company's initial plans for his first Aberdeen-area course called for a luxury hotel and nearby housing. His company received permission to build 500 houses, but Trump suggested he'd be allowed to build five times as many and borrowed against their values without actually building any homes, the lawsuit alleged. 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Yahoo
4 hours ago
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Trump's trip to Scotland as his new golf course opens blurs politics and the family's business
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — Lashed by cold winds and overlooking choppy, steel-gray North Sea waters, the breathtaking sand dunes of Scotland's northeastern coast rank among Donald Trump 's favorite spots on earth. 'At some point, maybe in my very old age, I'll go there and do the most beautiful thing you've ever seen," Trump said in 2023, during his New York civil fraud trial, talking about his plans for future developments on his property in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire. At 79 and back in the White House, Trump is making at least part of that pledge a reality, traveling to Scotland on Friday as his family's business prepares for the Aug. 13 opening of a new course it is billing as 'the greatest 36 holes in golf." While there, Trump will talk trade with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a meeting he's said will take place at 'probably one of my properties.' The Aberdeen area is already home to another of his courses, Trump International Scotland, and the president also plans to visit a Trump course near Turnberry, around 200 miles (320 kilometers) away on Scotland's southwest coast. Using this week's presidential overseas trip — with its sprawling entourage of advisers, White House and support staffers, Secret Service agents and reporters — to help show off Trump-brand golf destinations demonstrates how the president has become increasingly comfortable intermingling his governing pursuits with promoting his family's business interests. The White House has brushed off questions about potential conflicts of interest, arguing that Trump's business success before he entered politics was a key to his appeal with voters. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers called the Scotland swing a 'working trip." But she added that Trump 'has built the best and most beautiful world-class golf courses anywhere in the world, which is why they continue to be used for prestigious tournaments and by the most elite players in the sport.' Trump family's new golf course has tee times for sale Trump went to Scotland to play his Turnberry course during his first term in 2018 while en route to a meeting in Finland with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This time, his trip comes as the new golf course is about to debut and is already actively selling tee times. It's not cheap for the president to travel. The helicopters that operate as Marine One when the president is on board cost between $16,700 and nearly $20,000 per hour to operate, according to Pentagon data for fiscal year 2022. The modified Boeing 747s that serve as the iconic Air Force One cost about $200,000 per hour to fly. That's not to mention the military cargo aircraft that fly ahead of the president with his armored limousines and other official vehicles. 'We're at a point where the Trump administration is so intertwined with the Trump business that he doesn't seem to see much of a difference,' said Jordan Libowitz, vice president and spokesperson for the ethics watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. 'It's as if the White House were almost an arm of the Trump Organization.' During his first term, the Trump Organization signed an ethics pact barring deals with foreign companies. An ethics frameworks for Trump's second term allows them. Trump's assets are in a trust run by his children, who are also handling day-to-day operations of the Trump Organization while he's in the White House. The company has inked many recent, lucrative foreign agreements involving golf courses, including plans to build luxury developments in Qatar and Vietnam, even as the administration continues to negotiate tariff rates for those countries and around the globe. Trump's first Aberdeen course has sparked legal battles Trump's existing Aberdeenshire course, meanwhile, has a history nearly as rocky as the area's cliffs. It has struggled to turn a profit and was found by Scottish conservation authorities to have partially destroyed nearby sand dunes. Trump's company also was ordered to cover the Scottish government's legal costs after the course unsuccessfully sued over the construction of a nearby wind farm, arguing in part that it hurt golfers' views. And the development was part of the massive civil case, which accused Trump of inflating his wealth to secure loans and make business deals. Trump's company's initial plans for his first Aberdeen-area course called for a luxury hotel and nearby housing. His company received permission to build 500 houses, but Trump suggested he'd be allowed to build five times as many and borrowed against their values without actually building any homes, the lawsuit alleged. Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump liable last year and ordered his company to pay $355 million in fines — a judgment that has grown with interest to more than $510 million as Trump appeals. Golfers-in-chief Family financial interests aside, Trump isn't the first sitting U.S. president to golf in Scotland. That was Dwight D. Eisenhower, who played in Turnberry in 1959. George W. Bush visited the famed course at Gleneagles in 2005 but didn't play. Many historians trace golf back to Scotland in the Middle Ages. Among the earliest known references to game was a Scottish Parliament resolution in 1457 that tried to ban it, along with soccer, because of fears both were distracting men from practicing archery — then considered vital to national defense. The first U.S. president to golf regularly was William Howard Taft, who served from 1909 to 1913 and ignored warnings from his predecessor, Teddy Roosevelt, that playing too much would make it seem like he wasn't working hard enough. Woodrow Wilson played nearly every day but Sundays, and even had the Secret Service paint his golf balls red so he could practice in the snow, said Mike Trostel, director of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Warren G. Harding trained his dog Laddie Boy to fetch golf balls while he practiced. Lyndon B. Johnson's swing was sometimes described as looking like a man trying to kill a rattlesnake. 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Yahoo
4 hours ago
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Trump's trip to Scotland as his new golf course opens blurs politics and the family's business
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — Lashed by cold winds and overlooking choppy, steel-gray North Sea waters, the breathtaking sand dunes of Scotland's northeastern coast rank among Donald Trump 's favorite spots on earth. 'At some point, maybe in my very old age, I'll go there and do the most beautiful thing you've ever seen," Donald Trump said in 2023, during his New York civil fraud trial, talking about his plans for future developments on his property in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire. At 79 and back in the White House, Trump is making at least part of that pledge a reality, traveling to Scotland on Friday as his family's business prepares for the Aug. 13 opening of a new course it is billing as 'the greatest 36 holes in golf." While there, Trump will talk trade with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a meeting he's said will take place at 'probably one of my properties.' The Aberdeen area is already home to another of his courses, Trump International Scotland, and the president also plans to visit a Trump course near Turnberry, around 200 miles (320 kilometers) away on Scotland's southwest coast. Using this week's presidential overseas trip — with its sprawling entourage of advisers, White House and support staffers, Secret Service agents and reporters — to help show off Trump-brand golf destinations demonstrates how the president has become increasingly comfortable intermingling his governing pursuits with promoting his family's business interests. The White House has brushed off questions about potential conflicts of interest, arguing that Trump's business success before he entered politics was a key to his appeal with voters. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers called the Scotland swing a 'working trip." But she added that Trump 'has built the best and most beautiful world-class golf courses anywhere in the world, which is why they continue to be used for prestigious tournaments and by the most elite players in the sport.' Trump family's new golf course has tee times for sale Trump went to Scotland to play his Turnberry course during his first term in 2018 while en route to a meeting in Finland with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This time, his trip comes as the new golf course is about to debut and is already actively selling tee times. It's not cheap for the president to travel. The helicopters that operate as Marine One when the president is on board cost between $16,700 and nearly $20,000 per hour to operate, according to Pentagon data for fiscal year 2022. The modified Boeing 747s that serve as the iconic Air Force One cost about $200,000 per hour to fly. That's not to mention the military cargo aircraft that fly ahead of the president with his armored limousines and other official vehicles. 'We're at a point where the Trump administration is so intertwined with the Trump business that he doesn't seem to see much of a difference,' said Jordan Libowitz, vice president and spokesperson for the ethics watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. 'It's as if the White House were almost an arm of the Trump Organization.' During his first term, the Trump Organization signed an ethics pact barring deals with foreign companies. An ethics frameworks for Trump's second term allows them. Trump's assets are in a trust run by his children, who are also handling day-to-day operations of the Trump Organization while he's in the White House. The company has inked many recent, lucrative foreign agreements involving golf courses, including plans to build luxury developments in Qatar and Vietnam, even as the administration continues to negotiate tariff rates for those countries and around the globe. Trump's first Aberdeen course has sparked legal battles Trump's existing Aberdeenshire course, meanwhile, has a history nearly as rocky as the area's cliffs. It has struggled to turn a profit and was found by Scottish conservation authorities to have partially destroyed nearby sand dunes. Trump's company also was ordered to cover the Scottish government's legal costs after the course unsuccessfully sued over the construction of a nearby wind farm, arguing in part that it hurt golfers' views. And the development was part of the massive civil case, which accused Trump of inflating his wealth to secure loans and make business deals. Trump's company's initial plans for his first Aberdeen-area course called for a luxury hotel and nearby housing. His company received permission to build 500 houses, but Trump suggested he'd be allowed to build five times as many and borrowed against their values without actually building any homes, the lawsuit alleged. Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump liable last year and ordered his company to pay $355 million in fines — a judgment that has grown with interest to more than $510 million as Trump appeals. Golfers-in-chief Family financial interests aside, Trump isn't the first sitting U.S. president to golf in Scotland. That was Dwight D. Eisenhower, who played in Turnberry in 1959. George W. Bush visited the famed course at Gleneagles in 2005 but didn't play. Many historians trace golf back to Scotland in the Middle Ages. Among the earliest known references to game was a Scottish Parliament resolution in 1457 that tried to ban it, along with soccer, because of fears both were distracting men from practicing archery — then considered vital to national defense. The first U.S. president to golf regularly was William Howard Taft, who served from 1909 to 1913 and ignored warnings from his predecessor, Teddy Roosevelt, that playing too much would make it seem like he wasn't working hard enough. Woodrow Wilson played nearly every day but Sundays, and even had the Secret Service paint his golf balls red so he could practice in the snow, said Mike Trostel, director of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Warren G. Harding trained his dog Laddie Boy to fetch golf balls while he practiced. Lyndon B. Johnson's swing was sometimes described as looking like a man trying to kill a rattlesnake. Bill Clinton, who liked to joke that he was the only president whose game improved while in office, restored a putting green on the White House's South Lawn. It was originally installed by Eisenhower, who was such an avid user that he left cleat marks in the wooden floors of the Oval Office by the door leading out to it. Bush stopped golfing after the start of the Iraq war in 2003 because of the optics. Barack Obama had a golf simulator installed in the White House that Trump upgraded during his first term, Trostel said. John F. Kennedy largely hid his love of the game as president, but he played on Harvard's golf team and nearly made a hole-in-one at California's renowned Cypress Point Golf Club just before the 1960 Democratic National Convention. 'I'd say, between President Trump and President John F. Kennedy, those are two of the most skilled golfers we've had in the White House,' Trostel said. Trump, Trostel said, has a handicap index — how many strokes above par a golfer is likely to score — of a very strong 2.5, though he's not posted an official round with the U.S. Golf Association since 2021. That's better than Joe Biden's handicap of 6.7, which also might be outdated, and Obama, who once described his own handicap as an 'honest 13.' The White House described Trump as a championship-level golfer but said he plays with no handicap. ___ Associated Press writer Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.
