MALDIVIAN MAGIC

The Maldives’ very first private island resort, Kurumba, remains as popular as ever with tourists after delivering almost 50 years of flawless hospitality

Situated on a blissful tropical island in the North Male Atoll, the beautiful resort of Kurumba Maldives offers compelling and diverse experiences from its stunning island setting. Suitable for honeymooners and families alike, the former will appreciate romantic meals on the beach watching the sunset, while the kids can have fun and meet new friends at the Majaa Kids Club.

Conveniently situated a brief 10-minute speedboat ride from the airport, the resort offers eight styles of accommodation, ranging from the well-appointed superior rooms to the spacious Two Bedroom Villa, which is situated amid the island’s lush tropical gardens with easy access to the beach. With eight different restaurants, three bars and one shisha lounge, other amenities at Kurumba Maldives include an award-winning spa and its very own house reef, where guests can familiarise themselves with the region’s legendary marine life with a spot of snorkelling, or scuba diving.

Kurumba’s humble beginnings began in 1972, and the resort celebrated its 47th anniversary this October with team building activities and a street fair. Once unknown inhabited only by fisher folk, this remote archipelago was unknown to the outside world. There was only a small airstrip on Hulhule Island (the present international airport), built by volunteers, with no regular flights. Mohamed Umar Maniku, Universal Enterprises’ chairman, recalls: “We had nothing in the Maldives then. No Banks, no airport, no telephones only ham radio or Morse code contact with Colombo. Even the UNDP experts said that tourism would never succeed because there were no facilities or infrastructure.”

A chance meeting in Colombo between Italian travel agent George Corbin, and the Maldives Embassy’s Ahmed Naseem would change all that. It was love at first sight for Corbin, who was seeking pristine islands where he could bring Italians to swim and hunt fish, and he immediately vowed to return with more guests.

The Italian brought the Maldives’ first tourists, mainly journalists and photographers, in February 1972. They stayed in humble lodging in three houses in Malé, looked after by Maniku and his friends, including Hussain Afeef, who is currently the successful owner/operator of several resorts. Perfect for swimming, sunbathing, and fishing, the Maldives enchanted them. Corbin promised to bring more tourists if Maniku, Naseem and Afeef could find them somewhere to stay. And so Kurumba was born.

Inspired by their enthusiasm, Maniku and Afeef linked up with the leaseholder of Vihamanaafushi, then an uninhabited island coconut plantation. They chose the island for its proximity to the airstrip and the capital. Access to the island was only by sailing dhoni or open boat with outboard motor. After arriving by boat on the beach, guests had to wade through the surf to reach the resort.

From its humble origins accommodating just 60 guests a month, Kurumba now hosts around 14,000. Once run by a handful of founding friends, it now employs around 450 staff. “In the beginning, we didn’t know what to cook for these tourists from overseas, or how to deal with them,” Maniku recalls. “I had a recipe book in English that I translated into Dhivehi so the boys could understand it. I was cook, gardener and room boy. We had to do everything ourselves.”

Fastforward to 2020 and the Kurumba Maldives is a haven of barefoot luxury, a blissful contemporary space that delivers the perfect backdrop to a holiday in paradise whether you’re creating special memories as newly-weds or enjoying precious family time in the sunshine. kurumba.com