Four Seasons Private Island: The evolution of luxury resort collection to marine conservation pioneers

Imagine an exclusive-use island in the Maldives’ only UNESCO Biosphere Reserve that pioneers both marine-enhancing conservation and life-enriching connections: a pinnacle in luxury travel that doesn’t so much as curate experiences for guests as let them create their own…

Four Seasons Private Island Maldives at Voavah, Baa Atoll is the evolved realisation of two decades of development and dreaming: of preserving the most protected UNESCO waters in one of the world’s least explored (and most environmentally threatened) countries, while plunging high-end travellers into the deepest immersions of surroundings and self.

As the first luxury operators in the Maldives some 20 years ago, forward-thinking Four Seasons Resorts Maldives has been paving the “experiential travel” way with interactive conservation initiatives long before they became mainstream. And as the scale and scope of its collection has expanded, so too has the depth and breadth of its preservation programs.

Today, the opportunities available at the seven-bedroom, exclusive-use Voavah Private Island – the fourth offering in the Four Seasons Maldives Collection – are the perfect ode to the very ethos of its UNESCO Biosphere Reserve surroundings: a place where man and nature unite in harmony, interconnecting and protecting.  

“Nothing about Voavah is one-dimensional,” explains Senior Director of Marketing Lizah Bywater. ”It is mindful luxury conceived to expand horizons, spark influence and innovation, and so, continue the evolution.”

How is this achieved?  By giving Voavah guests an all-access pass to pick encounters that move them, magnify awareness, and elevate their consciousness.  

Located in Maldives only UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, guests have ground-breaking access to the experts who have spent more than a decade protecting, navigating and supporting the region: 15 full time marine biologists and Manta Trust scientists building coral frames, rehabilitating turtles and identifying the world’s largest known manta population; intuitive therapists inspiring wide-reaching change in The Ocean of Consciousness Spa; star gazing gurus and local culture specialists, eager to open inquisitive eyes to the Maldives beyond the tourist islands; and many more.

Every marine conservation project, run as Marine Savers, has been a partnership between Four Seasons, guests, Seamarc Pvt., and the Indian Ocean and the Maldivian authorities, including the Ministries of Environment and Energy, Fisheries and Agriculture, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Largely inspired by guests, Four Seasons Marine Discovery Centres have, to date: released and rehabilitated more than 170 turtles following entanglement in ghost nets; transplanted 100,000 coral fragments to boost ailing reefs; identified more than 2,000 turtles and 4,300 manta rays; created 40 fish tanks, eight larvae tanks and two plankton reactors to replenish ocean life – and contributed nearly two decades of research, education and conservation, including the photo-identification, satellite tracking, nest protection, and hand rearing of sea turtles, and the founding project of the now world-renowned Manta Trust charity.

With perfect timing on September 12, 2017 to coincide with the PURE Life Experiences show and draw attention to her species’ plight, Elsa – a female juvenile olive ridley turtle and long-term resident of Four Seasons Resorts Maldives Sea Turtle Conservation Program – will become the fifth “flying turtle” to travel from Four Seasons Maldives by plane to begin a new life overseas at St. Petersburg’s Planeta-Neptun, Russia’s first Oceanarium.

“The historic journeys of ‘flying turtles’ like Elsa – two years in the making and after three years of care in our Turtle Rehabilitation Centres – epitomises the evolution of our Resorts,” continues Bywater. “Every property, no matter how luxurious, has a responsibility to protect its surroundings and as our collection has evolved, so too has the seriousness of our conservation projects. With Voavah guests now poised to inspire even greater evolutions, we’re excited to see what the future will bring.”