Just about every­one is con­cerned about envi­ron­men­tal sus­tain­abil­ity these days and nowhere is the push toward eco-friendly hotel prac­tices more appar­ent than in the Mal­dives. This chain of breath­tak­ingly beau­ti­ful atolls in the Indian Ocean is dot­ted with world-class resorts like Taj Exot­ica Resort & Spa on Emboodhu Finolhu island.

Just about every­one is con­cerned about envi­ron­men­tal sus­tain­abil­ity these days and nowhere is the push toward eco-friendly hotel prac­tices more appar­ent than in the Mal­dives. This chain of breath­tak­ingly beau­ti­ful atolls in the Indian Ocean is dot­ted with world-class resorts like Taj Exot­ica Resort & Spa on Emboodhu Finolhu island.

In recent years, Taj Exot­ica has chal­lenged itself to reduce its car­bon foot­print while main­tain­ing the high­est level of com­fort for guests. The resort started the process by access­ing its energy effi­ciency, water man­age­ment, air qual­ity, and han­dling of chem­i­cals. Then, the hard work of improv­ing infra­struc­ture began.

New high­lights include…

• a hot water sys­tem that reduces the use of both elec­tric­ity and diesel fuel. In fact, Taj Exot­ica reports that it expects to save 109,500 litres of diesel every year
• a rain water har­vest­ing sys­tem that col­lects 896,000 litres per year
• the plant­ing of only endemic tree species like Jade Tree, Sea Hibis­cus, and Maliku­ruva Rose so no addi­tional water­ing is needed (this saves 10,000 litres of water per day)
• increased recy­cling of metal and other materials

Many trav­el­ers are drawn to Taj Exot­ica for its gor­geous beach and the fact that the resort sits on one of the largest lagoons in the Mal­dives. It’s a short 15-minute speed­boat ride from Male Inter­na­tional Air­port and the resort, with just 62 lux­ury vil­las, never feels crowded. Its world-class Jiva Grande Spa is a pri­vate island sanc­tu­ary that spe­cial­izes in Indian well­ness treatments.

For more infor­ma­tion, talk with your travel agent or visit Taj Exotica’s web­site.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo cour­tesy of Taj Exotica

The Sey­chelles is one of those dream des­ti­na­tions in the Indian Ocean, just north of Mada­gas­car. The Sey­chelles are actu­ally 115 islands and offer lush rain forests, gor­geous beaches, and are sur­rounded by unri­valed marine life.

The Sey­chelles is one of those dream des­ti­na­tions in the Indian Ocean, just north of Mada­gas­car. The Sey­chelles are actu­ally 115 islands and offer lush rain forests, gor­geous beaches, and are sur­rounded by unri­valed marine life.

The Four Sea­sons Resort Sey­chelles will cel­e­brate its one-year anniver­sary this Feb­ru­ary. Despite its secluded loca­tion on the south­west coast of the main island of Mahe, it’s still close to the inter­na­tional air­port as well as the cap­i­tal of Vic­to­ria (a 30-minute drive).

This is the type of place you’d be crazy to pass up. The 67 vil­las and suites are more than spa­cious and all vil­las have their own pri­vate plunge pools, out­door show­ers, and sun­set views of the bay. There are two restau­rants and bars, spa, fit­ness and recre­ation cen­ter as well as meeting/banquet facilities.

Dur­ing 2010 Four Sea­sons Resort Sey­chelles is offer­ing an excel­lent deal on lodg­ing here: its stay longer pro­mo­tion, which is valid from:

Jan­u­ary 10 – March 31, 2010
May 11 – June 30, 2010
Sep­tem­ber 16 – Octo­ber 31, 2010
Decem­ber 1 – 18, 2010

Enjoy a com­pli­men­tary 4th night for 3 con­sec­u­tive nights stay
Enjoy a com­pli­men­tary 6th and 7th night for 5 con­sec­u­tive nights stay

The pro­mo­tion is valid for indi­vid­ual book­ings only and not for groups.

For reser­va­tions, call Four Sea­sons Resort Sey­chelles at 248–393-333; fax: 248–393-331; or send an e-mail to reservations.sey@fourseasons.com.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo cour­tesy of Four Sea­sons Resort Seychelles

Head­ing to the Mal­dives soon? The island chain just wel­comed its first Hol­i­day Inn Resort on Kan­dooma Island on the South Malé atoll. For those of you who aren’t crazy about trans­fer­ring from Male Inter­na­tional Air­port to your resort via sea­plane (I’m rais­ing my hand right now), you won’t have to when vis­it­ing this Hol­i­day Inn. It’s just a 40-minute/22 mile speed­boat ride from MLE.

There are 160 vil­las here in eight cat­e­gories offer­ing every­thing from gar­den views to those entic­ing over-the-water bun­ga­lows. Each villa offers pic­ture win­dows, out­door show­ers, iPod dock­ing sta­tions, flat-screen TVs, and wire­less Internet.

The resort is hop­ing to lure busi­ness trav­els as well as vaca­tion­ers inter­ested in surf­ing and div­ing; the Hol­i­day Inn is nearby the Kan­dooma Chan­nel, Kan­dooma Caves, and Kan­dooma ‘Thila” (under­sea mountain).

You’ll be able to relax as much as you want or take part in a range of activ­i­ties. There’s a Dive Cen­tre and the Kan­dooma Spa as well as cata­ma­ran, wind­surf­ing, kayak­ing, and snor­kel­ing out­ings. Oh, and don’t for­get surf­ing lessons!

If you’ve got kids in tow, you’ll want to check out the resort’s Kids’ Club that offers babysit­ting ser­vices and age-specific activities.

Bren­dan Cor­co­ran is the gen­eral man­ager of the Hol­i­day Inn Resort Kan­dooma Mal­dives, which opened on Decem­ber 15, 2009.

Spe­cial intro­duc­tory rates start­ing at $290 per night are avail­able through March 31, 2010. Air­port trans­fers are an addi­tional $140 one-way for adults and $85 for children.

For more infor­ma­tion, speak with your travel agent or visit the web­site of the Hol­i­day Inn Resort Kan­dooma Mal­dives.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo cour­tesy of Hol­i­day Inn

Well, it’s finally our turn! The 2009 Travel Blog­gers’ Car­a­van wraps up today at LuxurySafariExperts.com. It’s been a fun two weeks and I’ve dis­cov­ered a lot of new travel blogs to watch through­out 2010. We hope you did too!

Today’s giveaway—a pair of Able Planet fold­ing noise-cancelling headphones—is cour­tesy of Magellan’s Travel Sup­plies. If you still need to pick up some last-minute hol­i­day gits, check out their web­site. Magellan’s offers some unique and very use­ful items for travelers.

If you’re trav­el­ing to Africa next year, you’ll want a pair of noise-reduction head­phones. They dra­mat­i­cally cut back on air­plane noise so you can lis­ten to music or a movie in com­fort. I tend to watch sev­eral movies on long-haul flights and noise-cancelling head­phones have saved the day on more than one occasion.

Win a Pair of Able Planet Fold­ing Noise-Cancelling Headphones

One lucky reader will be ran­domly cho­sen from all eli­gi­ble entries to win a pair of Able Planet Noise-Cancelling Head­phones. Con­test starts at mid­night on Decem­ber 15 and ends the same day at 11:59 pm. You must have a mail­ing address within the United States in order to be eli­gi­ble to enter and win.

How to Enter

Com­ment on this post between 12:00 am (mid­night) and 11:59 pm on Decem­ber 15, 2009. You’ll need to include your e-mail address so I may make con­tact if you are the win­ner. Good luck!

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Today’s stop on the Travel Blog­gers’ Car­a­van is: EuropeUpClose.com. Visit the blog and com­ment on today’s post for a chance to win a Fuji­film FinePix J28 10MP dig­i­tal cam­era with 3x opti­cal zoom.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Today’s stop on the Travel Blog­gers’ Car­a­van is: MyItchyTravelFeet.com. Visit the blog and com­ment on today’s post for a chance to win two great prizes: a $50 Barnes & Noble gift card, which may be used at any Barnes & Noble store or online at BarnesandNoble.com, and a “Library Edi­tion” of the most recent sea­son of “Rudy Maxa’s World”, including six DVDs con­tain­ing 13 shows on des­ti­na­tions in India, Turkey, Japan, Thai­land, St. Peters­burg, Esto­nia, and Argentina ($112 value).

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Today’s stop on the Travel Blog­gers’ Car­a­van is: EllenBarone.com. Visit the blog and com­ment on today’s post for a chance to win a day pack from First Ascent, a new extreme adven­ture line of gear and cloth­ing form Eddie Bauer and partners.

In addi­tion, ExOf­fi­cio will be pro­vid­ing the ulti­mate travel ensem­ble! You could be trekking the globe in the lat­est ExOf­fi­cio out­fit includ­ing; 1 Shirt, 1 Pair of Pants and 1 Pair of ExOf­fi­cio Under­wear. (approx­i­mately $200 value)

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Today’s stop on the Travel Blog­gers’ Car­a­van is: CruiseDiva.com. Visit the blog and com­ment on today’s post for a chance to win a copy of Fodor’s The Com­plete Guide to Caribbean Cruises and a World Ground­ing Adap­tor Set cour­tesy of Magellan’s Travel Supplies.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Today’s stop on the Travel Blog­gers’ Car­a­van is: JtheTravelAuthority.com. Visit the blog and com­ment on today’s post for a chance to win a Moun­tain­smith Tour FX cam­era bag.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Today’s stop on the Travel Blog­gers’ Car­a­van is: What a Trip. Visit the blog and com­ment on today’s post for a chance to win an Otter­box cell phone case or a Briggs and Riley Base­line 20-inch carry-on expand­able wide-body upright suitcase.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com