Thoddoo — Attraction in North Ari Atoll

Thoddoo Island is located 67 km west of Male and also 20 km away from Rasdhoo Island. Thoddoo is about 2 km in length and 1 km in width. One-third of the total area is agricultural, another third is the village itself, and the rest of the island is jungle. The island’s population is about 1,400 people. The first thing that catches your eye is a huge amount of trees and green plants, and also white sand on the beach. Bikini Beach Thoddoo is a famous island because of the beach area. A tourist beach is located in the western part of the island. It’ll take you 15 minutes to get there (if you go from the neighboring guest house). You just need to go through the plantations of various fruits. In this case, the bicycle is an excellent option. Nowadays almost every guest house offers a bicycle

The borders of bikini beach are marked by small fences. The beach is very clean and well-maintained. The length is a bit more than 100 m. During the peak season the beach is really overcrowded. Therefore, there are not enough sun loungers and hammock (in comparison to Ukulhas, where there are many of them).

The island has a great popularity among the guests from CIS countries. In 200 m from the shore there are floating buoys in the water, which mark the boundaries of the area, free of motorboats. Like in other islands, the bikini is allowed only on a tourist beach.

Thick bushes grow along the coast, and numerous pathways take you to the ocean. However, there is only one way that can lead you to the bikini beach. The sand itself is fine; there are absolutely no glass or dead coral on it, so you can safely walk there.

There are several hammocks under trees for you to have a rest.

The water is fairly clean and practically free of litter.

thoddoo-holidays-greenThoddoo house reef is rather big and extended. However, there are not so many snorkeling points. A reef is located rather close to the bikini beach, near to one of the borders marked by buoys. But there are only a few types of corals and several fish species. Somebody can be satisfied with it, but a truly magnificent reef with lots of small fish (and even with rays and sharks) is located far from the coast.

See also: Budget packages to Thoddoo A sand bank that is seen from the beach is a landmark. It’s not the edge of the reef, so the current there is not so strong. But to get there, you should be good at swimming and use fins. I swam without them, but it took me much time. Firstly, I just was not able to swim more quickly. Secondly, you’re to swim all the time approximately 300 meters, because the depth is about 2-2,5 meters.

But in the reef area you can easily stand, it’s shallow there. And don’t swim alone, just in case. There might be a strong current.

Sometimes it’s possible to see glowing plankton

Fruit farms This type of activity can be organized by yourself – just find a local guy, who will show you the plantation, or you can order a tour in your guest house. You’ll also be provided with a fruits basket.

Thoddoo is one of a few islands in Maldives that exports fruit and vegetables to other islands. There grow papayas, watermelons, bananas, coconuts, etc. If you want to pick fruit from a tree, you’d better get permission from the locals.

Cafes and restaurants There are only 4 cafes on the island (one is near the harbor (for locals); another is near the football ground (with rather high prices); the other is not far from the mobile tower (with local colour and reasonable prices). And the last one is on the way to bikini beach.

Thoddoo food, like that of other local islands, is not very diverse. There you can try rice, tuna, fried chicken, pasta, tuna soup with coconut milk, pancakes with tuna and coconut, casserole with tuna and rice, various tuna pasties. And, of course, a variety of fresh juices are available. The average dinner cost for two is...

As-salamu alaykum.

What I like very much about Thoddoo is the active agriculture, which is probably the main source of livelihood of the locals on the island together with tourism. There are excellent melons, papaya, cucumbers and other products grown here. I myself love farming and producing my own food, so my review will focus on agriculture. I am writing an online review for the first time in my life because I would very much like to contribute to the future and long term prosperity of Thoddoo Island.

I have noticed that local farmers burn grass, branches and any organic debris in fires to clean their fields before they sow new crops. During our 14-day stay on Thoddoo, the burning of grass and other organic debris was so frequent that many times the otherwise beautiful bikini beach was covered in thick and unpleasant smoke.

Coming from a farming background myself, I know that fertile and living soil is essential for good harvests, water retention and lower fertilizer consumption.

That is why my heart felt pain every time I saw such a huge amount of organic matter being burnt and thus gradually and steadily depriving Thoddoo Island of important nutrients that are already scarce in the sandy soil.

I hope that somehow my review reaches the local inhabitants of the island:

It would be great if you could get all the organic matter back into the ground. Composting leaves all the nutrients in the soil that would otherwise go up in smoke. All the organic matter that you dry and prepare for burning can be processed by machine, chopped into small pieces, and then incorporated directly into the soil by ploughing, just as you incorporate ash now. This is more or less the same process that you are already doing, except that you will retain all the nutrients for your melons in the soil and the soil will also retain water better if mixed with finely chopped organic grass residues, branches, etc. You won't need to buy cow manure from India as much.

Alternatively, a local composting company can be set up to process the organic matter at a designated site. The company can then supply fresh and local compost as fertilizer to the farmers. There are many composting companies in Europe and compost is a very valuable commodity.

Composting is also much more profitable than burning, especially in the long term. The advantages are, for example, as follows: Gradual improvement of soil quality, instead of gradual deterioration of soil quality. Improved health and air quality. Not breathing so much smoke is much healthier for you. Tourists will be more satisfied if the whole island is not covered in smoke. Sometimes it's really unpleasant. The plants will have more nutrients, they'll be more resilient, the soil will hold water better. It will be possible to grow more nutrient-intensive crops. It's about producing your own and local fertiliser, there's no need to buy so much fertiliser imported from elsewhere. Your island will slowly but surely grow in height. Every bit of matter that doesn't go up in smoke from your island will literally contribute to your growth :-)

God willing, this post will be shown to the right...

Location: The inn is conveniently located about 700-800 meters from both the Sunrise and Sunset beaches, situated to the east and west of the property. I highly recommend marking or saving locations on your map, as many streets and small lanes do not appear on Google Maps, making it challenging to navigate. Consider downloading the island map for offline use (approximately 25MB). As this is an island with abundant vegetation, expect to encounter lizards, mosquitoes, and other pests, which is typical across Thoddoo.

Transport - Speed-boats from the Airport, a 90-minute ride (a really scary one, due to the bad weather). At Atoll Ferry, he picked us up in a golf cart. Helped me and the family to ride around the Island (pick-drops-5$)

Scary - Maybe a one-off/ reason not to go Off-Season or during Rains. Speed Boats only options, 30-40min diversions at times to avoid the rough waves, some going around 13 feet high from the boat, and no slowing down or stopping (they do have plastic bags for folks throwing up. :-P Entire 4 days we stayed, it was pouring, a cyclone nearby or something, but just bad weather, throughout. Just got 1 day of straight 5 hr window of Sun for pictures and snorkelling (that changed immediately to a storm). Travel during the season time, not off it, though it will be cheaper, then be prepared for what comes your way.

If we ever come back to Thoddoo would love to stay with Hassan and his lovely family again at Thoddoo Sun Sky Inn. We loved everything about the place and the Island! The island itself is a paradise. We highly recommend this place! Thoddoo is a quite tranquil place to get away from the other touristy crowd and spend time with nature it’s just perfect! Nothing more to say, we will be back here or maybe on another island for sure once it is a chance to back to Maldives...