Moonlighting with Mantas: Discover 2025's Manta Hot Dates and Manta Watch Offer with Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru

What do the moon and manta rays have in common? They're the key components of one of the ocean's most awe-inspiring events: the mass gathering of manta rays in Baa Atoll's UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Add the newly released “Manta Hot Dates” from Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru, and aquatic adventurers can now boost their chances of witnessing this epic annual spectacle.

Based at Landaa Giraavaru, the Maldives Manta Conservation Programme (the founding project of The Manta Trust) has spent two decades studying the region's manta rays. Having identified the largest-documented population in the world, the team combines their research and knowledge of the local mantas' movements with the moon's phases; mixes in a delicate balance of maths, tidal knowledge and plankton-forecasts; and predicts Manta Hot Dates: periods each month when huge numbers of mantas are most likely to gather at renowned nearby sites. And the best news? The feeding frenzy that ensues is accessible to anyone who's able to snorkel.

Baa Atoll's 2024 manta season closed with the sightings of an estimated 4,477 manta rays by guests and the manta experts at Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru. Lured to the same waters by their similar plankton-based diet, 26 whale sharks and nine devil rays were also sighted. The resort's manta experts spent 469 hours snorkelling and freediving to conduct 1,168 manta surveys throughout 2024 - adding to the ongoing database used to inform 2025’s Manta Hot Dates:

• May 10 – 14
• May 25 – 29
• June 9 – 13
• June 23– 27
• July 8 – 12
• July 22 – 26
• August 7 – 11
• August 21 – 25
• September 5 – 9
• September 19 – 23
• October 5 – 9
• October 19 – 23
• November 3 – 7
• November 18

Landaa Giraavaru's 2025 Manta Hot Dates greatly maximise the chances of guests snorkelling with mass gatherings of manta rays while staying at the resort. The experience is best booked with the resort's Manta Watch offer. Available for two people for stays of four nights or more, Manta Watch includes a Manta-on-Call speedboat safari, dolphin cruise, and a personal coral frame propagation. Other value-added bonuses include round-trip shared seaplane transfers from/to Velana International Airport and daily breakfast in Café Landaa or Blu Restaurant.

For those who prefer to let the mantas set the schedule, the resort’s pioneering Manta-on-Call program provides an exhilarating, real-time alternative. Guests are equipped with a mobile phone and alerted the moment mantas are sighted nearby, allowing them to dash to a speedboat and be whisked away to the action. It’s the ultimate wildlife experience - on the mantas' terms.

Making waves in the world of manta ray conservation at Landaa Giraavaru since 2005, the resort’s onsite manta experts are passionate about sharing their insights and knowledge. “It’s a privilege to see guests’ faces light up when they spot mantas for the first time,” comments Elspeth Strike, Project Manager - Manta Trust Baa Atoll. “Since launching The Manta Trust’s founding project at Landaa in 2005, we’ve worked tirelessly to protect these ocean ballerinas and their home, not just here in the Maldives but globally. Sharing time with mantas through managed experiences like those here at Landaa is a vital part of conserving them - you can’t help but fall in love and want to be part of preserving their future.”

Manta Watch is seasonal and manta ray sightings are subject to weather conditions and the temperament of these gentle oceanic giants.

To find out more about Manta Hot Dates and Manta Watch at Four Seasons Landaa Giraaavru, click here, email reservations.mal@fourseasons.com or call the central reservations department of Four Seasons Resorts Maldives at tel: (960) 66 00 888.