The Maldives is spread across the Indian Ocean - north of the equator and southwest of the Indian peninsular. A chain of 1190 small coral islands stretch over an area of around 90,000 square kilometers. What is most attention-grabbing, though, is that only one percent of this considerably large territory is land. The rest is all taken up by the vast blue Indian Ocean.

The 1190 islands of the Maldives are naturally grouped into 26 atolls. The distribution of islands in the atolls is random, the number of islands belonging to an atoll varying from one to the other. No more than 200 of these islands are locally inhabited. 88 have been chosen for resort development and the rest are all desert islands - some rarely ever set foot on by man. It is the endless ocean which separates the islands which contributes to the Maldivian air of mystery. It is also these geographical features which have helped Maldives retain its natural beauty and centuries old traditions.

Resort development has, until now, been limited to only a couple of atolls. With rapid development of tourism, however, a handful of new atolls have been selected to be built as new resorts. With the opening up of these new areas, more of the Maldives can now be explored and enjoyed than ever before. Each atoll offers sights and sounds of its own. Only individual exploration can reveal all their secrets.