Mountain · Maldives
Mount Villingili
Mount Villingili is the highest point of the Maldives, a country of flat coral islands in the Indian Ocean. The little green mound on Villingili in Addu Atoll measures about 5.1 metres.
Where is Mount Villingili?
Mount Villingili is part of the Addu Atoll.
You will find it in: the Maldives.
The story behind it
Calling this a mountain is a friendly joke, because the Maldives is the flattest country on Earth: almost two thousand coral islands lie only a step or two above the waves. Mount Villingili is a low mound of sand and coral rubble on the island of Villingili in Addu Atoll, far in the south, and the measurements of its height differ by a couple of metres depending on who takes them. Coconut palms and thick bushes grow on the slope, and a short path reaches the top in about a minute. People still walk up for a photograph beside the sign, and cyclists on the island road pass the bottom of it every day. Because the sea is slowly rising, the Maldives watches even such tiny hills closely, and builds sea walls and higher new land to keep its islands dry.
Questions children ask
How high is Mount Villingili?
About 5.1 metres, roughly the height of two front doors stacked on top of each other. Different surveys give slightly different numbers, but every one of them makes this mound the highest ground in the Maldives.
Which country is Mount Villingili in?
It lies in the Maldives, an island country spread across the Indian Ocean southwest of India. The mound is on Villingili, one of the islands of Addu Atoll at the southern end of the chain.
Can you climb Mount Villingili?
Yes, and it is the easiest summit in the world: a short path leads up in about a minute. Visitors usually go for the fun of standing on the highest ground of a whole country.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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