From the book "Straight to the South", part 2 "Shark archipelago", episode 13.

Our stay in the Huvadhu have been completed by two very unique dives. We started at opposite of the Maafushi island after barrier of lagoon in the open ocean. Nothing happen, we dive to the depth and hung there for a long time, it was empty, it seemed that we were here for nothing. But suddenly a huge fish came out to us from below, the hammerhead shark, 4 meters in length, not less.

These perhaps the most ancient of species of fish live in packs. The jamb consisting of mothers and babies is in motion constantly, and young males provide safety - prowl round and take away the family aside in case of danger. So such a guard sniffed us. He doesn't come close, we shot him, but he is barely visible in photos because darkness in the early morning at a depth..

Inspired by this we did the second dive there again. And we didn't lost – a flock of hammerhead sharks passed us.. It is prohibited to dive below thirty meters in the Maldives, but they were a little deeper and they had impressive sizes, and we were able to see them and even shot a little, the moment lasted for 2-3 minutes. However, the photos are not good:

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From the book "Straight to the South", part 2 "Shark archipelago", episode 12.

At night they set the lamp on the foredeck of our ship and we can see as trifle fish and plankton curl in its light attracting those who eat them. And here you are, we've been woken by a knock at the cabin door at 3am: "Shark!". Indeed, here it is, at arm's length from the boat.. Young, a little over three meters in length, but the real whale shark!

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From the book "Straight to the South", part 2 "Shark archipelago", episode 11.

Night diving is a mandatory part of almost any dive-safari, everything is painted in amazing colors in the dark under the water, and you can see the night underwater inhabitants, which can not be found during the day. But it is difficult in the Southern Maldives: marine life is poor inside the atolls but it is dangerous to dive at night in the ocean behind the barrier reef, at this time sharks go hunting, and those creatures who peasfully swim around you all day can attack you at night. Besides, there are powerful currents there, they can bring you into the open ocean and who will find you..

However, we did just one night dive on the shallow water near the banks inside a small coral atoll. Corals here pleased us, they are quite diverse - waves and currents do not threaten them, there is calm place in the lagoon, ...

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From the book "Straight to the South", part 2 "Shark archipelago", episode 10.

Early evening, we were allowed to go ashore. Well it is necessary ever to walk the surface of the ground once during the entire trip :)

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From the book "Straight to the South", part 2 "Shark archipelago", episode 9.

How to protect marine life: wild tuna fishing does not covers the growing demand, so three plants have been established in Maldives where this valuable seafood is produced for industrial purposes, and one of them is located near Koodoo airport in the inner lagoon. They grow young fish and fishing only for adult individuals, then prepare it for sale as frozen or canned products. Feed and giblets fall into the water, their smell attracts myriads of other fish. And oceanic blacktip sharks, there were 20-30 of them. Excited by the smell of blood they rapidly raced around, almost poking us by their faces, and they are large, up to two-three meters in length, and teeth are very sharp, plus the speed.. Well, it was scary, to say the least :)

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From the book "Straight to the South", part 2 "Shark archipelago", episode 8.

We should describe one of our dives especialy, it was at Huvadhu. We started the dive at the same place, on the East external party of the atoll in the open ocean near the strait, but we didn't swim inside, we remained to hang in blue. And we were not sorry about it. Of course there were a little animals there, but we saw sea hunters who didn't come close to the reef.

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From the book "Straight to the South", part 2 "Shark archipelago", episode 7.

We spent the first four days of our seven-day stay onboard of safari boat Emperor Leo at the Huvadhu Atoll.

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From the book "Straight to the South", part 2 "Shark archipelago", episode 6.

10.03.2018

Maldives, a tiny state washed by the equatorial waters of the Indian ocean. It was the idea of diving next to the sharks on the southern atolls with names from Arabic fairy tales - Huvadhoo, Foie Mulan, Addu - what attracted us to make this trip, everything else was attached during its planning, which looked something like: how to get there? It was much cheaper and easier for us to go through Sri Lanka, so why not stop there for three days, to look what kind of country is Sri Lanka? Safari in the Maldives lasts only 7 days, so why not to extend the pleasure? Since we're out of the home, we need to see something else! And how much does it cost, for example, to fly from Maldives to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands? So it's very inexpensive and the places there are nature reserves! So go ahead!

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From the book "Straight to the South", part 1 "Expedition to the heart of Sri Lanka", episode 5.

It is time to speak of Sigiriya, the last capital of the ancient state of Sri Lanka, we spent our last day in Sri Lanka here. The perimeter of the city, which arose near the Royal residence (Lion Rock), is protected by wide ditches filled with water, perfectly preserved to this day. They also played the role of the irrigation system: the population of a large city needed water and the surrounding fields also should be irrigated.

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From the book "Straight to the South", part 1 "Expedition to the heart of Sri Lanka", episode 4.

Jeep-safari to Kaudulla national park starts in the afternoon. In the morning and at noon, elephants hide in the jungle in the shade of trees, and in the evening they walk to the lake, where you can see them in details and photograph them on open spaces.

Jeeps at the entrance to the park

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From the book "Straight to the South", part 1 "Expedition to the heart of Sri Lanka", episode 3.

A trip to the medieval town of Polonnaruwa - the second oldest capital of the Lankan kings, where they ruled from 1070 to 1293 years. Until this time, from the middle of the I century BC, the administrative capital of the island was the city of Anuradhapura, which we could not visit because the day before there were religious riots there, and the government temporarily restricted visiting its surroundings.

We drove with stops: souvenir shops, beggars-monkeys on roadsides.. Well, of cause we threw bananas for those pretty little guys!

Wooden carved bas-relief at the entrance to the souvenir shop

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From the book "Straight to the South", part 1 "Expedition to the heart of Sri Lanka", episode 2.

We had only three full days in Sri Lanka. It is quite a bit and we did not drive to the sea and decided to spend them in the Central province, near the city of Dambulla. Local places are steeped in history. Enough to say that ancient inhabitants of the island belonged to the Veddo-Australoid race, bringing together representatives of the Australian and Veddoid or Ceylon-Sunda lesser races. Scientists believe that these peoples were the first human group who leaved Africa (the ancestral home of mankind) in the stone age and settled part of South and South-East Asia and the Eastern part of the tropical belt of the Old World, from Hindustan to Indochina and the Malay archipelago, and even to Australia. At the same time, they are genetically isolated from Europeoids and Mongoloids and do not have common ancestors with Negroids, some resemblance to the Negroids can only be explained by living in similar climate conditions. And then people who settled the island of Sri Lanka had a lot of interesting ...

Small family hotel Sigiri Rock Side Home Stay (7°56'57.67"N 80°45'17.89"E, that in the vicinity of the ancient city of Sigiriya) was clean and cozy. The Breakfast room cost for us about USD 35 per night. In the mornings we were woken up by wild monkeys jumping on a roof, the hospitable hostess treated us with freshly prepared dishes - pancakes and cakes of roti with tasty sauces, scrambled eggs, fresh fruits and the owner, the archaeologist and the local historian, helped us to organize hikes on vicinities .

The road to our hotel

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From the book "Straight to the South", part 1 "Expedition to the heart of Sri Lanka", episode 1.

06.03.2018

Rare case, we are going to fly from our native airport Manas and even at a convenient time at 9:00 am. Flight Bishkek - Delhi by Air Manas plane, ticket costs 149 USD, time in flight about 3 hours. Let's fly!

the Tien Shan fnd Pamir mountains are hidden by clouds, the mountains started to be visible only after an hour and a half later, when Afghanistan was under us. It was a Hindu Kush mountains, then foothills of the Himalayas and far away rising to the sky - main ridge with its giant peaks. The sky is just a background for Nanga Parbat peak (8125 m), further it could be seen Gasherbrum I (8080 m) and the northernmost and second highest of the world's giants - Chogori or K-2 (8661 m), ascent to which is fatal for every fourth climber..

Then the mountains under us were replaced by a minorhills, then it gone and the plain of continental India began - scattered among green fields settlements-stars, rivers and canals, threads of roads..

Building density increased closer to Delhi and here you are the metropolis is under us, where among the poor areas of old buildings, as high bushes among the grass, modern high-rise buildings have grown and wide highways lay straight..

Indira Gandhi airport, Terminal 3, New Delhi

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