The Maldives
This year when the phone rings, a speedboat will take you to spot manta rays as they congregate in
between the months of June and November,” she says.
Detailing the immersive experiences in store for travellers, Elspeth says Landaa Giraavaru has a Manta-on-Call service, which provides a “manta phone” that rings when mantas are sighted and guests are then taken in speedboats to experience the sighting. Private manta-spotting cruises are also available, and the Trainee Manta Biologist programme “engages environmentally-minded teens (aged 13 to 18) who learn about what it takes to be a manta biologist, from photo identication to monitoring manta sizes, behaviour, and even pregnancy”.
The experiences, however, are possible due to the in-depth research undertaken — including analysis of monsoon currents and other predicting factors — by MMCP.
Elspeth explains that MMCP has been conducting research in Baa Atoll and across the Maldives archipelago for the last two decades. “They have been collecting data to monitor the country’s manta ray population, its movements, and how the environment and human (ie tourism) interactions aect them. Since its inception, the MMCP has identied almost 6,000 dierent individual reef manta rays from more than 90,000 photo-identication sightings, making the Maldives manta ray population the largest known, and one of the most intensively studied, in the world,” she says referring to the data that is used by researchers to record and identify key patterns of the manta rays.
As well as studying the animals themselves, the MMCP is also conducting research to identify the ideal environmental and cloves, fennel... and found a perfect balance.”
The Chai Guys also decided to do everything from scratch, every single time. “When we started we would go to the weekend market with whole spices, a pestle and mortar. We would chop the ginger right there, and then start brewing the chai...” says Abhilash, adding “the scent would waft all around the market, and people started coming and ordering chai.”
Gabriel adds that the chai is always brewed slowly. “This gives the spices time to steep — for us it was about doing it correctly so we maximise the avour from the spices. We do it in batches of 30 cups, and it takes 30 minutes each time.”
When they launched their Bakehouse in Notting Hill, creating food that paired well with tea, they decided to follow the same principle, baking all the bread and pastry on site, and cloaking the street with that freshly-baked scent. Says Abhilash, “It was a place we could nally call our home.” The cafe oers some Indian-inspired food of course, including a aky ‘samosant’, which is a spicy samosa croissant dusted with sesame seeds and powdered sugar.
Inspired by the Irani cafes of Mumbai, they decided to pay homage to India’s well-loved bun maska, traditionally a soft bun with a generous lashing of creamy butter inside. “When we rst tried it, we thought we must give people a chance to try this in London,” says Abhilash. The result is a uy bun made with Japanese milk dough and soft honey butter. The instant popularity seems to have even taken the founders by surprise. “It’s so simple,” says Abhilash, “But I suppose even the British can relate to bread and butter.”
And now they are learning the Indian joys of dunking it in sweet, steamy chai.