SECRET PARADISE CLEANS UP WITH THE COMMUNITY OF K GURAIDHOO MALDIVES

As a tour company it is usual for our guides to be continually travelling the Maldives, leading tours and accompanying guests. Therefore it is not easy getting the team all together in one place! So for 36 hours we juggled schedules and even included our guests in our team training day to ensure we had everyone in the same place at the same time!

Due to the guide schedules we were unable to recognise World Clean Up Day on the 17th September with a cleaning event. However, we love a beach clean and therefore we decided to organise an event while we were in Guraidhoo.

Since 2018, World Cleanup Day has become one of the biggest civic movements, uniting 191 countries across the world for a cleaner planet. Annually, on the 17th September volunteers worldwide come together cleaning up litter and mismanaged waste from beaches, rivers, forests and streets.

The Secret Paradise guide team, together with children from years 8 and 9 Guraidhoo School, led by Principal Mr Mohamed Siraj, members of Guraidhoo Island Council, Guraidhoo Police Service, Dive Point Guraidhoo, Manta Divers, Olive Ridley Project and Secret Paradise guests, all joined forces to clean the shoreline and east beach area of Guraidhoo. General waste was separated from plastic waste and the Secret Paradise team returned to Male with 10 bags of plastic which was passed onto Parley Maldives for recycling.

Speaking at the beginning of the event, Secret Paradise Co-Founder, Ruth Franklin stated, ‘while clean-up events support the protection of the environment and assist in reducing ocean plastic pollution, it is also vitally important to remind friends and families on how to dispose of rubbish safely in order to keep both our communities and the natural world clean and safe’.

Environmental and social responsibility has always formed part of the core values of Secret Paradise and is reflected in our guided tours. Every tour is a learning experience for travellers. Our guides share information on corals, marine life, sea-grass, mangroves and what happens to plastic waste, through conversation, presentations and hands-on experiences.

Beach cleans are an integral part of every Secret Paradise Tour, our guides and guests have completed 30 individual beach cleans in the past three months alone! In a destination whose existence depends on the protection of its fragile environment, we believe it is our responsibility as a tour company to make travel more ethical, inclusive, and eco-friendly.

Travelling with Secret Paradise means as a responsible traveler you support steps to limit the impact of travel on the destination. Find out more about how we support responsible and sustainable travel in the Maldives by reading our Sustainable Policy.