Addu and Fuvahmulah nature parks opening in June-Maldives Independent

Nature parks developed to promote eco-tourism in the southernmost atolls will open in June, the environment ministry told the press Thursday.

“Visitor Centres” and boardwalks have been built in Fuvuhmulah’s Eydhigali Kilhi and Addu’s Koattey protected areas to offer hiking, bicycling and mangrove canoe tours as well as snorkelling and reef diving.

The boardwalks would offer tourists access to “the aesthetic beauty of the wetlands and various plants previously hidden from view,” the environment ministry previously said.

The ministry hopes the nature parks “will help create a ‘new brand’ for protected area management that brings together the management authority, community, private sector and various stakeholder groups.”

A training programme for tour guides was announced earlier this week with an application deadline of April 18.

The eco-tourism facilities were developed under the US$4.2 million Climate Change Adaptation Project.

The first of its kind to be implemented on local islands, the project was launched in 2015 with assistance from the World Bank, European Union and the Australian Agency for International Development.